A Mississippi infant has died from pertussis, a disease also known as whooping cough. The infant was just one month old when the disease was contracted, making them ineligible for a vaccine. Babies are able to begin receiving the pertussis vaccine beginning at two months.
The department of health has not released any information regarding the baby’s location, date of death or any other identifying information, citing the need to respect the privacy of the infant’s family.
Shamira Muhammad
An infant dies from pertussis in Mississippi
Pertussis is a bacterial infection that can cause airway constrictions in infected individuals, creating the disease’s characteristic ‘whoop’ sound. Mississippi has not had any deaths from whooping cough since 2012. The infant’s death is only the third in the state since 2008.
State health officer Dr. Dan Edney says the baby’s mother received a routine pertussis vaccination during pregnancy, which can help newborns have some level of immunity from the disease.
“We know that the family had taken all the proper precautions themselves, but it still brings home for us the danger of vaccine preventable diseases for our infants and our children, and how we as a community of Mississippians need to maintain our vaccination rates to protect our babies,” he said.
Mississippi has had a sharp uptick in whooping cough cases, with 115 diagnoses reported this year. There were only 49 cases in the state in 2024. Dr. Edney says though he doesn’t believe there is an active pertussis epidemic in Mississippi, there is a state of concern and caretakers should be aware of common symptoms.
“Most commonly, the first symptom is runny nose and typically lower grade fever, head congestion,” Dr. Edney said. “Then the cough begins a little bit later. If your infant is running fever, always contact your family medicine doctor, pediatrician.”
Although vaccination rates remain high, many adults are not getting boosters and are unaware they may have whooping cough. Even if a person was previously vaccinated against pertussis, immunity can wane over time.
“If you have a newborn coming into your family, all the adults need to make sure that their tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis boosters are up to date for the sake of the infant,” Edney said.
The disease can be fatal for children under the age of one, whose airways and lungs are still developing.
“We're also begging providers to think pertussis when you're treating children and adults because it's very treatable,” Dr. Edney said. “It's a bacterial illness. So it's not a virus. We have antibiotics that are very effective.”
Parents are advised to ensure that childcare providers and anyone coming around infants are up to date with boosters, which can be received every ten years. He also suggests keeping infants younger than eight weeks old at home until they are able to receive vaccinations.