Whooping Cough Epidemic Affects Latinos in California

Nine of the 10 infant deaths resulting from the current whooping cough, or pertussis, epidemic in California have been Latino. More than 6,200 people have been infected in the outbreak that started in Fresno, Calif.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, pertussis is a highly contagious respiratory tract infection that resembles the common cold at first — runny nose, sneezing, etc. — but in a few weeks’ time severe coughing begins (thus the name). Infants are particularly vulnerable to the disease, which explains the number of dead babies.

They cough so violently, rapidly that they have no air left in their lungs and must inhale with a loud “whooping.” The bacteria that cause pertussis spread by coughing or sneezing before the actual whooping starts.