Whooping cough outbreak in Darling Downs

Thousands of parents have been notified as daycares, schools and education centres have been put on alert as the region records three times more its average of whooping cough cases.

Young little boy kid wearing blue shirt standing over isolated background feeling unwell and coughing as symptom for cold or bronchitis.

It wasn’t until a Toowoomba mother traded notes with her Sunshine Coast sister-in-law that she realised her daughter’s cough was something much more sinister - whooping cough.

It comes as thousands of parents across the Darling Downs received notification of an increase in whooping cough cases through their respective daycares and schools as cases across the region spike alongside other respiratory illnesses, such as the influenza, Covid, microplasma, and RSV.

Darling Downs Health advice whooping cough pertussis

It was in February when Lucy Smith’s* 11-month-old daughter came down with a bad cough, and despite visiting doctors “multiple times in a couple of weeks” her daughter’s cough “just seemed to get worse and nothing was helping”.

It was her sister-in-law, who suggested Ms Smith get her daughter tested for it, after her own child had separately been sick with whooping cough.

“I asked for a swab to be done to include whooping cough and it came back positive the next day,” she said.

“We were pretty lucky, I guess that we maybe had 1-2 nights of really bad cough where we contemplated taking her to hospital as she wasn’t catching a break in between coughing fits.

“Once she finished the medicine she still had the cough for about 2-3 weeks, but wasn’t contagious anymore.”

Ms Smith said her daughter was up to date with all her vaccinations, hadn’t started at daycare yet and “thank goodness” no one else in the house got it.

Since October 2023 to March 31, 2024, the Darling Downs recorded 92 cases of whooping cough, with almost half (46 per cent) in schoolchildren.

Fifty-nine of those cases have only appeared in the last couple of months, “which is up three times the five year average already this year”, Australian Medical Association Qld President and GP Dr Maria Boulton said.

“It is something we’re very vigilant about because we have been seeing a lot more respiratory illness and sometimes it is tricky to clinically tell them apart, whether it is whooping cough or mycoplasma or Covid or influenza – they can present with very similar symptoms,” Dr Boulton said.

She said it was likely many cases of whooping cough were going undetected in the community.

The infection can be deadly in babies under the age of six months, and she urged pregnant women and anyone with contact with newborns to ensure they are up to date with their immunisations.

Pediatrician makes vaccination to a small boy. Prevention and health care concept.

The infections are coming earlier, she said and “we always hold our breath at wintertime”.

“One of the good things this year is that the flu vaccine has been made free for all Queenslanders from now,” Dr Boulton said.

“It’s up to everyone to have a chat to their GP to see if they’re up to date.”

There has been an increase in whooping cases in the community, particularly within local schools, a Darling Downs Health spokesperson said.

“Our Public Health Unit continues to work closely with local schools and Education Queensland on managing whooping cough cases.

“We ask the community to be vigilant in ensuring their children are up to date with the whooping cough vaccination and to get tested early if symptomatic.”

For more information over whooping cough, signs, symptoms, treatment, transmission, prevention and vaccination, please see the Queensland Government’s advice here.