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Speaker 1: Yesterday on the show, a listener got in touch chasing

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Speaker 1: information about what he said was a growing number of

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Speaker 1: hooping cough cases in Catherine, saying at least one school

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Speaker 1: would sent a letter home to parents, and two adults

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Speaker 1: that he knows have also come down with it in

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Speaker 1: the last couple of weeks. Now joining us on the

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Speaker 1: line to talk more about this is Anti Health Public

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Speaker 1: Health Physician Center for Disease Control here in Darwin, Doctor

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Speaker 1: Yashish your dove. Good morning to you, Good morning Katy,

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Speaker 1: Thanks so much for your time this morning. Now, doctor

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Speaker 1: can you tell us has there been an increased number

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Speaker 1: of hooping cough cases in Catherine?

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Speaker 2: Yes, I mean, although we haven't received notifications for whooping

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Speaker 2: cough this month from Catherine, I think the last case

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Speaker 2: is received from that area was in April, and we've

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Speaker 2: had around fifty across the territory this year. But although

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Speaker 2: the numbers have been increasing over the year, but we're

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Speaker 2: still getting some cases from the regions that we cannot

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Speaker 2: link to other known cases, which suggests that there is

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Speaker 2: some ongoing community transmission and we aren't catching all of them.

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Speaker 2: So it is out there. It's just that people are

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Speaker 2: not getting tested so I would encourage people to get

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Speaker 2: tested if they have some lingering cough.

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Speaker 1: So do we have any idea, I mean of the

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Speaker 1: number of cases that have been tested and that have

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Speaker 1: gone into clinics, just how many cases we may have

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Speaker 1: seen a hooping cough in that area.

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Speaker 2: Yes, so we've had seventeen in Darwin Region and six

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Speaker 2: in Catherine. But that is across the year since January,

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Speaker 2: and these numbers are quite big. And last year as well,

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Speaker 2: we have had almost one hundred and twenty cases in

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Speaker 2: the NTY and in fact, last year across Australia we

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Speaker 2: had around fifty seven thousand cases of whooping cough. Wow,

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Speaker 2: which is very alarming.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, it is alarming. And I mean to those

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Speaker 1: out there listening this morning, they don't know exactly what

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Speaker 1: the symptoms of whooping cough are. Can you talk us

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Speaker 1: through it?

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Speaker 2: Absolutely? So. Whooping cough it's a highly contagious bacterial infection

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Speaker 2: which is caused by a bacteria. Although the spread is

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Speaker 2: exactly similar to what we see in other respiratory infections

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Speaker 2: which are caused by viruses like influenza or covid. So

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Speaker 2: basically it spreads by direct contact with mouth or no

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Speaker 2: secretions or when a person who has the infection coughs

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Speaker 2: or sneezes, and it can also spread by sharing utensils, food,

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Speaker 2: or even sometimes by kissing. The symptoms you usually begin

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Speaker 2: like cold, so you can have a runny nose or sniffles.

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Speaker 2: You can have mild cough in the beginning, but with

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Speaker 2: time the cough versions, and that's where the name comes from.

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Speaker 2: It's called whooping cough. So it's like pouts of coughing

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Speaker 2: which end up in a whoop like sound. So and

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Speaker 2: then you can have complications as well. It can lead

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Speaker 2: to vomiting, and it can lead to pneumonia, brain damage,

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Speaker 2: and it can also cause death.

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Speaker 1: So it is absolutely vital really to get vaccinated. I mean,

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Speaker 1: is a is it a vaccination that you know when

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Speaker 1: the kids go through the vaccination process at school that happens,

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Speaker 1: talk us through how you can get vaccinated.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely, So vaccination remains the most effective defense against whooping

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Speaker 2: cough and it can really help to reduce its transmission.

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Speaker 2: So the vaccines are available for children. There are six

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Speaker 2: doses of vaccine, starting from six weeks to two months

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Speaker 2: four ONNS, six months, eighteen months and then four years

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Speaker 2: and then up to twenty years of age and these

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Speaker 2: are all free and safe and effective. They all come

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Speaker 2: under the National Iminization Program. So yeah, anyone who has

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Speaker 2: a tendency to catch whooping cough, so there are certain

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Speaker 2: groups who have a higher risk, they should all get

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Speaker 2: and get the vaccine as early as possible.

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Speaker 1: And doctor, we also know that it is really this

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Speaker 1: time of year I guess when flu cases become a

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Speaker 1: concern in terms of the flu. Has there been more

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Speaker 1: cases in the Northern Territory or how are we tracking

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Speaker 1: at the moment?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, flu cases are consistent at this time of the

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Speaker 2: year what we have seen in the past here, so

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Speaker 2: across the NTY we sort of see flu notifications across

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Speaker 2: all months, so it can vary depending on the top

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Speaker 2: end or if you're from Central Australia. So we are

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Speaker 2: seeing a rise in cases in Central Australia now and

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Speaker 2: although we are getting notifications from the top end as well,

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Speaker 2: but the numbers have been a bit stable lately. But

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Speaker 2: as I said, we get cases throughout the year for flu.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and do you know if in terms of the

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Speaker 1: flu or the strain of flu. I guess that we

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Speaker 1: are saying across Australia at the moment. In different you know,

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Speaker 1: different times over different years, we get told that it

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Speaker 1: is quite a severe strain of flu. Do we know

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Speaker 1: how it is looking this time around.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, So the flu virus has a tendency to mutate.

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Speaker 2: So every year, depending on the strains which are circulating globally,

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Speaker 2: the recommendation is made and those trains are included in

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Speaker 2: the vaccine. And that's why it is recommended to have

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Speaker 2: the vaccine shots every year. And it is important because

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Speaker 2: the flu virus can again be very dangerous as well.

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Speaker 1: Well. Doctor Asheeshia Dove, it has been really good to

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Speaker 1: speak to you this morning. I appreciate your time. Just

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Speaker 1: in terms of just a very quick last one just

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Speaker 1: in terms of the hooping cough. New parents, I'm assuming

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Speaker 1: that they are certainly or if you're planning on being

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Speaker 1: in contact with a new baby, that it is definitely

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Speaker 1: recommended that you get vaccinated.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely, I think, because whooping cough is most dangerous for babies.

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Speaker 2: Most hospital stays and deaths from whooping cough happening baby

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Speaker 2: for not really old enough to receive all the vaccine doses,

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Speaker 2: So it is very very important to make sure that

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Speaker 2: all the infants and these kids are vaccinated on time.

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Speaker 1: Well, doctor, it is great to speak to you this morning.

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Speaker 1: I really appreciate your time. Thank you very much for

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Speaker 1: joining us today.

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Speaker 2: Thank you Katie for having me.

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Speaker 1: Thank you