© 2024 WEMU
Serving Ypsilanti, Ann Arbor and Washtenaw County, MI
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Health Officials Urge Vaccinations Amid Surge in Pertussis Cases

Washtenaw County Public Health
Washtenaw County Public Health
/
facebook.com

Vaccinate your child. As 89-One WEMU's Andrew Cluley reports, That's the message from health officials after a record number of cases of Pertussis were recorded in 2013.   

 2013 was a record year, though not one to be happy about.  

There were more than one-thousand cases of Pertussis, or whooping cough, recorded in Michigan last year. 200 of those cases were in Washtenaw County.

Additionally, the five recorded cases of measles in Michigan were the most since 1999.

Washtenaw County Public Health Epidemiologist Laura Bowman says vaccinating children goes a long way in combating these afflictions, and helps prevent spread of the illness to those medically unable to receive the vaccine. 

Bowman says an increasing number of people are choosing not to vaccinate their children and that contributes to the increased number of illness.

Like many, I first came to this area when I started school at the University of Michigan, then fell in love with the community and haven’t left. After graduating from U of M in the mid 1990’s I interned at WDET for several years, while also working a variety of jobs in Ann Arbor. Then in 1999 I joined the WEMU news team.