Whooping Cough Cases Spike in Anaconda

The Anaconda-Deer Lodge area has had a jump in cases of both chicken pox and whooping cough this month. So far, the  health department has been unable to find the initial case that sparked the outbreaks.

"We have five confirmed cases," says  Anaconda-Deer Lodge Health Department Director Heidi Neilson. "We're trying to identify kind of where it came from. The five cases that we have are in the junior high and the high school."

Heidi Neilson:

So far, all of the whooping cough cases were in children between the ages of 13 and 14.

At the height of Whooping cough season last June the Anaconda-Deer Lodge area had only one isolated case of whooping cough. Neilson says it is common for whooping cough to return with a strong outbreak every four to five years.