Introduction

= Introduction: What is Whooping Cough? =

===Whooping Cough also known as Pertussis is making a come back in the United States within recent years. The disease gets its name from the whooping sound that a person makes after breathing in if they have the disease. The bacteria behind Whooping Cough is that of //Bordetella pertussis//. Until recently Whooping cough was not an issue within the United States due to vaccinations. Whooping Cough was at an all time low in the 1970's, but has been slowly on the rise since then. The media and doctors alike are calling this one of the worst outbreaks of whopping cough in 60 years. In California alone there have been over 6,000 cases of the disease since January 1st and at least 10 deaths all within infants. Within the state of Illinois there have been 770 reported cases as of November 23rd, 2010 which is an increase from the 648 cases in 2009. However, there is still about a month to go since that data was collected for the final years total on 2010 Whooping Cough cases. According to the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report put out by the CDC there have been 17,854 cases of Whooping Cough in the United States this year which is up from the 13,946 in 2009. A significant number of Whooping Cough cases are occurring within in the United States. This leads us to many unanswered questions: Why is the disease making a come back? What can be done to prevent the disease? Are certain age groups more at risk than others for the disease?===