Pertussis Testing Busy

So many children are getting tested for pertussis at Panhandle Health District that the agency is running out of appointment times and testing materials.

“We’ve done 150 tests in the last two days,” said Jeanne Bock, director of family and community health. “The more we test, the more we find.”

Bock asked for nurses from the health district’s home health care division to help with the testing.

The district office in Coeur d’Alene is accepting walk-ins who may have had contact with a pertussis victim because they ran out of appointment times, Bock said.

Many of the children being tested are from Ponderosa Elementary School, where three students have been found to have the disease. Pertussis is more commonly known as whooping cough.

Eleven cases of pertussis have been discovered since a 2-month-old Post Falls boy died two weeks ago. The autopsy showed the infant had pertussis.

The cases have been found in both Coeur d’Alene and Post Falls. Health officials are urging people with pertussis symptoms - runny noses, watery eyes and sneezing - to stay away from children, who are more susceptible to the disease.

The district also advised parents to accelerate their children’s immunization schedules to protect them during the outbreak.

, DataTimes