Holiday masking recommended amid spike in whooping cough cases

New Brunswick's acting chief medical officer of health is encouraging people to mask during holiday gatherings as the province-wide whooping cough outbreak has spiked to more than 800 cases and other viruses, such as COVID-19, the flu and RSV spread.

A total of 831 whooping cough cases have now been confirmed, Dr. Yves Léger said Tuesday.

That's a 489 per cent increase since the outbreak was declared in August.

It's the most cases New Brunswick has seen in 12 years, when the last provincial outbreak was declared, he said. The 2012 outbreak was the province's largest ever, with 1,421 confirmed cases. It lasted a year.

"There are some signs that we may start to see some improvements," said Léger, noting the numbers have "sort of stabilized."

But "that's really preliminary and the holiday season may affect that," he said.

"Certainly, we may see a slight increase in cases after the holidays as well."

Whooping cough, or pertussis, is a highly contagious respiratory infection that is easily transmitted, mainly through droplets from the nose, mouth and throat of an infected person. 

It begins with cold-like symptoms and a mild cough that gets worse and often ends with a "whooping" sound. The disease is also known as the "100-day cough."

"What concerns us the most when we have pertussis activity and outbreaks is the risk that this poses to newborns and young infants, especially those that are too young to get their first doses of pertussis vaccine," Léger said.

"For those young children, pertussis is usually actually quite severe and can sometimes be fatal."

So far, no deaths have been reported and only four hospitalizations, said Léger, none of which required intensive care. "We've been very fortunate."

Pre-COVID, in 2019, New Brunswick had a total of 83 whooping cough cases, according to the Department of Health. Last year, there were fewer than five.

The annual average over the past five years has been 38.1