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Huge Jump in Whooping Cough Cases - Valley News Live - KVLY/KXJB - Fargo/Grand Forks

Huge Jump in Whooping Cough Cases

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More than 4,300 Minnesotans were diagnosed with whooping cough in 2012, far more than any year since World War II.

A quarter of the cases were among children ages 9 to 12.  

Experts say the reason for the increase is a redesigned vaccine that was introduced in 1991 to reduce the side effects. 

Patsy Stinchfield, director of pediatric infectious disease services for Children's Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota, says the vaccine's protection doesn't last as long, something that has taken time to observe. 

Before the first pertussis vaccine became available in the United States in 1943, Minnesota had as many as 5,000 cases some years.

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