Louisiana Took Months To Sound Alarm After Two Babies Died In Whooping Cough Outbreak

When there's an outbreak of a vaccine-preventable disease, authorities wellness officials typically return definite steps to alert residents and rumor nationalist updates astir nan increasing threat. That's modular practice, nationalist wellness and infectious illness experts told KFF Health News and NPR. The extremity is to support arsenic galore different susceptible group arsenic imaginable from getting sick and to punctual nan nationalist astir nan benefits of vaccinations.

But successful Louisiana this year, nationalist wellness officials appeared to person not followed that playbook during nan state's worst whooping cough outbreak successful 35 years.

Whooping cough, besides called pertussis, is simply a highly contagious, vaccine-preventable illness that's peculiarly vulnerable for nan youngest infants. It tin origin vomiting and problem breathing, and superior infections tin lead to pneumonia, seizures, and, rarely, death.

Madison Flake, a pediatric resident successful Baton Rouge, cared for a babe who was hospitalized during this year's outbreak. Less than 2 months old, he was sent to nan intensive attraction unit.

"He would person these bouts of very melodramatic coughing spells," Flake said. "He would extremity breathing for respective seconds to almost a minute."

Infants are not eligible for their first pertussis vaccine until they are 2 months old, but they tin get immunity if nan mother is immunized while pregnant.

By precocious January, 2 babies had died successful Louisiana.

But nan Louisiana Department of Health waited 2 months to nonstop retired a societal media station suggesting group talk to their doctors astir getting vaccinated. The section took moreover longer to rumor a statewide wellness alert to physicians, nonstop retired a property release, aliases clasp a news conference.

That lag is not typical, according to Georges Benjamin, nan executive head of nan American Public Health Association.

"Particularly for these puerility diseases, we usually jump each complete these," said Benjamin, a expert who has led wellness departments successful Maryland and Washington, D.C. "These are preventable diseases and preventable deaths."

Because infectious diseases dispersed exponentially, if officials don't alert nan nationalist quickly, they suffer a cardinal chance to forestall further infections, said Abraar Karan, an coach astatine Stanford University who has worked connected covid and mpox outbreaks.

"Time is possibly 1 of nan astir important currencies that you have," he added.

General promotion of vaccines banned

Because pertussis vaccine immunity wanes complete time, cases tin ebb and flow. But successful September 2024, Louisiana wellness officials started seeing a "substantial" summation successful whooping cough cases, portion of a nationalist trend.

In precocious January, physicians astatine 1 Louisiana infirmary warned their colleagues that 2 infants had died successful nan outbreak.

On Feb. 13, nan state's surgeon general, Ralph Abraham, sent a memo to unit ending nan wide promotion of vaccines and organization vaccine events.

He sent that email a fewer hours aft Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an anti-vaccine activist, won Senate confirmation arsenic nan caller caput of nan U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Also that day, Abraham posted a nationalist memo connected nan authorities wellness department's website. In it, he said nationalist wellness has overstepped pinch vaccine recommendations, driven by "a one-size-fits-all, collectivist mentality." Abraham has called covid vaccines "dangerous" and been a vocal protagonist of Kennedy.

Four days later, successful consequence to a petition from WVUE Fox 8 News successful New Orleans, nan Louisiana Department of Health successful an email confirmed nan deaths of 2 infants from whooping cough for nan first time. WVUE published nan news connected Feb. 20.

But Louisiana's wellness section sent retired nary alerts, according to a reappraisal of outer and soul communications by NPR and KFF Health News.

Over nan adjacent month, 2 much infants were hospitalized for whooping cough, according to soul wellness section emails obtained done a nationalist records request.

In March, aft inquiries from NPR and KFF Health News astir nan increasing number of pertussis cases, nan section put retired its first societal media communications astir nan outbreak and offered interviews to different journalists.

Then connected May 1 — astatine slightest 3 months aft nan 2nd babe decease — nan wellness section issued what appears to beryllium its first and truthful acold only charismatic alert to physicians. It put retired its first property merchandise nan adjacent time and past held a news convention astir pertussis connected May 14.

By then, 42 group had been hospitalized for whooping cough since nan outbreak began, three-quarters of whom were not up to day connected their whooping cough immunizations, according to nan Louisiana Department of Health.

More than two-thirds of those hospitalized were babies nether nan property of 1.

Throughout nan summer, pertussis cases continued to climb successful Louisiana. But location were nary further nationalist communications from nan authorities wellness department.

NPR and KFF Health News contacted nan section for remark connected Sept. 25. Emma Herrock, a spokesperson, did not reply circumstantial questions astir nan deficiency of communications but referred to a Sept. 30 station connected X by nan authorities surgeon general.

In nan post, Abraham said nan section "consistently reported cases of pertussis and provided guidance to thief residents enactment protected" successful 2025. He called nan pertussis vaccine "one of nan slightest controversial" and said he recommends it to his patients.

The X station included a year-by-year schematic of pertussis cases that omitted 2024 and 2025. The station besides provided a much circumstantial timeframe for erstwhile nan babe deaths occurred — 1 successful precocious 2024 and nan different successful early 2025.

A 'train wreck' of cases

Louisiana should person started informing nan nationalist wrong days of nan first infant's decease alternatively of waiting months, said Stanford's Karan.

"At minimum," he said, "it should beryllium for illustration dense promotion of: 'Hey, infants are astatine precocious risk. They get infected by group who person waning immunity. If you haven’t gotten vaccinated, get vaccinated. If you person these symptoms, get tested.'"

Deaths from a vaccine-preventable unwellness are tragic, but they tin besides service arsenic an opportunity to amended nan nationalist astir nan benefits of vaccines and effort to prevention lives, said Joshua Sharfstein, a erstwhile Maryland wellness caput and now a professor astatine nan Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

"The consequence of pertussis is ever there, but erstwhile you person 2 babe deaths it's a really bully opportunity to pass that this is simply a existent threat to nan wellness of children," Sharfstein said.

Karan said that by not acting much quickly, nan Louisiana Department of Health whitethorn person group itself up for a worse outbreak.

"Because past what we spot is this train wreck thereafter, of for illustration an insanely ample outbreak, a batch of hospitalizations," he said.

The outbreak continued

As of Sept. 20, nan astir caller day for which information is available, Louisiana had counted 387 cases of whooping cough successful 2025, according to nan Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In information going backmost to 1990, nan erstwhile precocious was 214 cases, successful 2013.

Until nan Sept. 30 station connected X, nan Louisiana Department of Health did not look to put retired immoderate nationalist communications astir pertussis complete nan preceding 4 months, though hospitalizations continued and lawsuit levels surpassed nan 2013 levels.

The wellness section should beryllium responding aggressively and consistently, said Joseph Bocchini, nan president of nan Louisiana Chapter of nan American Academy of Pediatrics.

Health officials should make judge "people are updated connected a regular ground and reminded of what needs to beryllium done," he said. "Get your vaccines. Moms, if you’re pregnant, get vaccinated. And if you person a cough illness, spot your doctor."

Benjamin, pinch nan American Public Health Association, said nan ongoing extremity of nationalist wellness connection is to forestall nan adjacent hospitalization aliases death.

"The bottommost statement is, it's not excessively late," he said. "It's not excessively precocious to beryllium overmuch much fierce and proactive astir dealing pinch pertussis."

This article is from a business that includes WWNO, NPR, and KFF Health News.