Health officials in Suffolk County, New York, report whooping cough outbreak over the last month

Health officials in Suffolk County, New York, warned that cases of a respiratory bacterial infection called pertussis, also known as whooping cough.

Health officials in Suffolk County, New York, are warning the public that cases of the respiratory bacterial infection called pertussis, also known as whooping cough, have been on the rise in the area.

In Suffolk County, 108 cases of pertussis were reported or suspected in 2023. One hundred of those cases have been reported since November 28, 2023, a spokesperson for the Suffolk County Department of Health Services told ABC News.

Officials say there have been no known hospitalizations to date, and this outbreak has been mostly among vaccinated children and their parents, according to a press release.

"The recent uptick in pertussis cases in New York serves as an important signal for health departments nationwide to ramp up monitoring and vaccination efforts," Dr. John Brownstein, epidemiologist at Boston Children’s Hospital and ABC News medical contributor, told ABC News.

Across the United States, pertussis cases in 2023 were over twice as many as in 2022 but remain significantly lower than in pre-pandemic years, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.