Great Bend Post

GREAT BEND -According to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment the definition of an outbreak is any two cases of disease that do not reside in the same household.

Shelly Schneider, the Director of the Barton County Health Department, says Barton County is now experiencing an outbreak of pertussis or whooping cough.

“We are currently up to five contacts that we are following. We want to see who they’ve been in contact with and who those individuals have been in contact with,” said Schneider. “We want to know if they are ill, been to a doctor, on antibiotics,” she said.

All five cases were found in Great Bend and ranged from people 4-months old to middle-aged. Schneider told Barton County Commissioners Monday morning there has been one confirmed death in Barton County in the past month.

McPherson County went through the outbreak about a month ago and currently Johnson County is the only other county along with Barton that is suffering through the outbreak.

“The thing with pertussis is it is so highly contagious,” said Schneider. “If you get in a room with someone who is ill, and get within three feet of that person, you are now a contact. It is sad because many people don’t realize in large groups that they are even infected.

Pertussis, or whooping cough, can be prevented by vaccinations but Schneider added once a person has had the whooping cough they can still get it again.

The DTaP vaccine is recommended for young children up to seven years old and the Tdap vaccine for adolescents and adults.