993 - What to Know About Whooping Cough
Public Health On Call
The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
4.6 • 644 Ratings
🗓️ 7 January 2026
⏱️ 16 minutes
🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS
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Summary
About this episode:
Pertussis—more commonly known as "whooping cough—is on the rise, with more than 25,000 cases and a number of child deaths recorded in the U.S. in 2025. In this episode: Dr. Erica Prochaska talks about the symptoms of pertussis, how it spreads, when to seek out medical care, how to prevent infection, and the role of vaccines.
Guests:
Dr. Erica Prochaska, MHS, is a pediatric infectious disease doctor at the Johns Hopkins Children's Center and an assistant professor of Pediatrics at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.
Host:
Lindsay Smith Rogers, MA, is the producer of the Public Health On Call podcast, an editor for Expert Insights, and the director of content strategy for the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Show links and related content:
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Epidemiological Update: Pertussis (Whooping Cough) in the Americas Region—Pan American Health Organization
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Global whooping cough resurgence after COVID lull may point to need for better vaccines—CIDRAP
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More than 25,000 whooping cough cases reported this year as Kentucky records 3rd infant death—ABC News
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An Update On Measles, Pertussis, Mpox, and Other Vaccine-Preventable Diseases—Public Health On Call (November 2024)
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to Public Health On Call, a podcast from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, |
| 0:05.9 | where we bring evidence, experience, and perspective to make sense of today's leading health challenges. |
| 0:16.3 | If you have questions or ideas for us, please send an email to public health question at jhhhu.edu. |
| 0:23.8 | That's public health question at jhhu.edu for future podcast episodes. |
| 0:31.2 | Hey listeners, it's Lindsay Smith-Roggers. Today, pertussis or whooping cough. |
| 0:37.2 | Dr. Erica Pahaska is a pediatric infectious disease position |
| 0:40.3 | at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. She returns to the podcast to talk with me about whooping cough, |
| 0:45.9 | what it is, how it's diagnosed and treated, and the recent rising cases which have sadly included |
| 0:51.5 | some pediatric deaths. Let's listen. |
| 0:54.8 | Dr. Erica Pajaska, thank you so much for returning to public health on call. |
| 0:58.4 | How are you doing? |
| 0:59.4 | I'm doing well. How are you doing? |
| 1:01.2 | Good. I hear you're busy over there in the hospital these days. |
| 1:04.5 | What's going on right now? |
| 1:06.4 | We're just seeing the beginning of winter. |
| 1:09.0 | So with any winter season comes viral illnesses, not necessarily |
| 1:12.8 | just influenza or RSV, but things like common colds and antarvirus and things like that. |
| 1:18.8 | We're always having an excellent time taking care of children. It's a privilege to be involved in |
| 1:23.0 | their lives. We all enjoy the work that we do in the Children's Center. Well, today we're going to |
| 1:27.4 | talk to you about one thing that's kind of, I don't want to say making a comeback, but is having a resurgence, and that's pertestis. Could you tell us what pertussis is? |
| 1:37.3 | Yes, pertussis is more commonly known as whooping cough. So it's probably what most people are familiar with it being called. And it is a infection |
| 1:47.5 | called portatala pertussis. Sometimes a slightly different whooping cough can be caused by |
... |
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