The CDC is confirming that California is in the midst of a whooping cough outbreak.
Doctors say that the outbreak is the worst in 70 years and there is over 1,000 more cases than the last major outbreak in 2010. Over 9,900 cases have been reported and confirmed as of November 26th.
The disease, known as pertussis, is caused by bacteria and is known to run on a 3 to 5 year peak cycle.
“The last time a series of outbreaks occurred across the country, California started the parade,” said Dr. William Schaffner, chairman of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, told ABC News. “And so this is a harbinger we are fearful of.”
The CDC says that 50 percent of children under a year old who catch the disease need to be hospitalized and up to 2 percent die.
The CDC is requesting that all pregnant women be injected with the whooping couch vaccine with the hope that the injection will pass the protection from mother to child.
