Czech Republic struggles to contain surge of whooping cough

Whooping cough is on the rise across Europe, and the Czech Republic is no exception. But a week marked by turmoil over official guidance and Prague’s controversial mayor’s public appearances has some wondering whether anything has been learned from the coronavirus.

According to Czech authorities, there were 28 registered cases of whooping cough in the first week of January.

That number now stands at 3,084, a number not seen since 1963.

The victims include Bohuslav Svoboda, the 80-year-old mayor of Prague, a member of parliament and a prominent gynecologist.

Dr. Svoboda, who was coughing and bustling through a parliamentary health committee meeting, was clearly irritated and questioned why he was even there in the first place.

He said he was recovering from whooping cough but was on his sixth day of antibiotics so he was “no longer contagious…at least that’s what they taught me at school.”

Most of my colleagues in the room buzzed. But some said they could have at least worn a mask.

For the Prague branch of the Green Party, this was no laughing matter. Public health regulations require whooping cough patients to remain at home until antibiotic treatment is complete.

The party filed criminal charges against the mayor for “spreading an infectious disease.”

As cases continued to rise, Prague’s public health authorities took matters into their own hands. The government has written to schools in the capital saying unvaccinated children must be sent home if a case of whooping cough is confirmed in a class.

This was immediately denied by the country’s head of public health, who advised his colleagues in Prague at a press conference. Schools do not have the authority to send unvaccinated children home, she said.

Instead, every case must be judged individually, based on things like how much time the infected child spent in the classroom.

Epidemiologists, including those leading the government’s coronavirus response, shook their heads in disbelief. Recently revised Health Ministry guidelines call for exactly the approach recommended by Prague authorities.

But confusion over official guidance has obscured a strange conundrum. What about unvaccinated children?

Vaccination against whooping cough, known as “black cough” in Czech, is mandatory in the country.

It is intended to be given from the first few weeks of life, alongside vaccinations such as diphtheria, tetanus and polio.

However, official statistics estimate pertussis vaccination coverage at 97% of the infant population, suggesting that there are thousands of unvaccinated infants in the Czech Republic.

Health Minister Vlastimir Valek told Czech Television that the current increase in infections is due to a combination of two things. One is the resurgence of respiratory diseases due to society abandoning strict measures against the new coronavirus. And children’s vaccinations are incomplete.

The whooping cough vaccine is administered in five stages, with the first three stages given within the first 12 months of life. Almost all children receive these first doses.

However, only 90% ultimately receive the final two doses, which are given at around 6 and 10 years of age.

Valek said this may explain why the biggest increase has been seen among Czech teenagers.

Parents are urged to check their children’s vaccination history. Adults are recommended to receive a booster vaccination.

Before compulsory vaccination was introduced in 1958, whooping cough killed dozens, if not hundreds, of infants and young children each year in Czechoslovakia.

Experts say the modern population is still well protected by mass state-run compulsory vaccinations.

However, there is still a risk of a resurgence of infections.

Infected teens can suffer from symptoms as severe as a persistent cough. However, it is still possible to transmit the potentially fatal disease to younger siblings whose immunity is still developing, or to grandparents whose immunity may actually be waning.

Whooping cough (also known as whooping cough) is a contagious infection of the lungs or respiratory tract.

The first signs of whooping cough are similar to a cold: a runny nose and sore throat.

However, after about a week, the infection may cause a coughing attack that lasts several minutes and is usually worse at night.