Whooping Cough Case Confirmed at Lindenhurst Middle School

A student was recently diagnosed with pertussis, also known as whooping cough, according to information from the Suffolk County Department of Health Services (SCDHS).

A letter from the County health department dated November 28 and posted on the school district website said the student was contagious between November 7 and 12. The illness could take from five to 21 days for symptoms to develop in susceptible individuals from the date of exposure.

School district officials said that the youngster diagnosed with whooping cough has been put on antibiotics, as is standard procedure as per the SCDHS, to help hasten recovery and shorten the time a person is contagious.

The district was notified of the confirmed pertussis case by the SCDHS, and a letter drafted by county health officials was sent to allow the district to alert parents about the diagnosis and symptoms.

"We want them to be informed and be on the look-out just in case," school district officials said.

SCDHS officials concurred, noting that the best way to prevent pertussis is to be vigilant - especially since the has seen a spike this year in the number of cases.

The agency's recorded 216 cases since January, and 205 of them since June, including an outbreak in the Smithtown School District also in June that's caused the number of confirmed cases there to climb to 64. However, this is the first case reported in Lindenhurst.

"We have identified the numbers of cases that have been associated with a particular school district since the outbreak began in June,” said Grace Kelly-McGovern, a SCDHS spokesperson. “Additional cases were either identified over the summer when school was not in attendance, not of school age or attendance, in pre-schools, in private schools, in schools not in Suffolk County, or the school was unknown.”

The Lindenhurst case brings the number of known cases in Babylon Town to six.

With one diagnosed case of pertussis in the school district, Kelly-McGovern said the focus now is to stop the spread of the disease.

“If a cough persists, go see a doctor,” she added.

In addition, the school district’s letter to parents advised, "If your child's health care provider suspects a diagnosis of pertussis, orders testing and prescribes antibiotics, your child should remain home until he/she has completed five days of his/her antibiotic treatment."

The SCDHS also recommends that adults and children should be properly immunized against the diseases.

“The chances of catching it from someone whose immunization has waned, or who was never immunized, lessens as more people get immunized,” Kelly-McGovern said.

While the vaccine is not 100 percent effective, it could mitigate the course of the illness, the SCDHS assured.

Parents and physicians who have questions about pertussis should contact the SCDHS’ Division of Disease Control at 631-853-3055. They can also visit the Centers for Disease Control website for more information.