Czech Republic struggles to contain rise in whooping cough | Top Vip News

Whooping cough is increasing throughout Europe and the Czech Republic is no exception. However, a week marked by confusion over official guidance and a controversial public appearance by Prague’s mayor has left some wondering if anything was learned from Covid-19.

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

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

Among the victims is the mayor of Prague, Bohuslav Svoboda, 80, a deputy and eminent gynecologist.

Coughing and spluttering during a parliamentary health committee meeting, a clearly irritated Dr Svoboda wondered why he had to be there in the first place.

He said he was recovering from whooping cough, but was on the sixth day of a course of antibiotics “so I’m no longer contagious… or at least that’s what they taught me in school.”

Most of the colleagues in the room laughed. One, however, said he at least could have worn a mask.

For the Prague branch of the Green Party it was no laughing matter. Public health guidelines dictate that whooping cough sufferers should stay home until the end of their antibiotic treatment.

The party has filed criminal charges against the mayor for “spreading a contagious disease.”

As cases continued to rise, Prague’s public health authority took matters into its own hands. He sent a letter to schools in the capital, saying that if a case of whooping cough is confirmed in a class, unvaccinated children should be sent home.

This was immediately rejected by the head of the national public health authority, who rebuked her Prague colleagues at a press conference. Schools did not have the authority to send unvaccinated children home as a precaution, she said.

Instead, all cases should be judged individually, based on how much time the infected child spent in the classroom, etc.

Epidemiologists, including one who led the government’s Covid measures, shook their heads in disbelief. The Health Ministry’s recently amended guidelines call for exactly the approach recommended by Prague authorities, they said.

But confusion over official guidelines obscured a curious conundrum; What unvaccinated children?

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

It should be administered, along with the vaccine against diphtheria, tetanus, polio and others, from the first weeks of life.

However, according to official figures, an estimated 97% of the child population is vaccinated against whooping cough, suggesting that there are thousands of unvaccinated babies in the Czech Republic.

Health Minister Vlastimil Válek told Czech Television that the current rise in cases is due to a combination of two things: a resurgence of respiratory illnesses as society abandons strict Covid measures; and incomplete immunization in children.

The pertussis vaccine is given in five stages, the first three in the first 12 months of life. Almost all children receive these initial doses.

However, only 90% end up receiving the last two, administered between six and ten years old.

This would explain, according to Válek, why the greatest increase is among Czech adolescents.

Parents have been urged to check their children’s vaccination history. Adults are encouraged to receive booster shots.

In years past, dozens, if not hundreds, of babies and young children died each year in what was then Czechoslovakia from whooping cough, until the introduction of mandatory vaccination in 1958.

Experts say the modern population is still well protected by mass mandatory vaccination administered by the state.

However, the resurgence of cases still carries dangers.

Infected teens may not suffer anything more serious than a persistent cough. But they can still transmit what can be a deadly disease to their younger siblings, whose immunity is still forming, or even to their grandparents, whose immunity may have faded.

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

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

But after about a week, the infection can turn into coughing fits that last a few minutes and are usually worse at night.