Reno County pertussis outbreak quickly ebbs

The Reno County Health Department has recorded no additional cases of whooping cough in the county since it reported five pertussis cases two weeks ago.

The state requires 21 days without a new case to declare an outbreak over, but local officials are hopeful the community’s response quickly contained the outbreak.

“We do not have any more cases,” said Karen Hammersmith, assistant director of Clinical Services at the health department. “It has not really grown or been an issue.”

The original five cases, all reported within a week, included infections in two infants, one pre-school child and two adults.

“There isn’t a clearly defined linkage between any of the cases,” Hammersmith said. “There’s a possibility they crossed paths at some point, but we’ve not had any other confirmed cases with that. We got people treated with antibiotics which were at high risk.”

Since none of the cases were in school, that also reduced the potential exposure level and “helped us as well,” she said.

When Reno County last had an outbreak of pertussis in 2015, some 100 cases were confirmed in the county before that eight-month outbreak was ruled over, with more than 200 cases investigated.