The San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD) sent a note home to Scripps Ranch High School parents Tuesday morning warning of a case of whooping cough on campus.
“This is an important message regarding a case of pertussis—whooping cough—that has been identified at our school,” read the note.
SRHS administrators said the note was standard procedure when these sorts of cases are found.
NBC 7 reached out to SDUSD to see if there were more recent cases reported at other district schools, but they did not respond to our request for comment as of Tuesday afternoon.
San Diego County Health and Human Services has not seen an abnormal increase in whooping cough recently.
Over the past twenty years, San Diego County saw spikes in whooping cough in 2010, 2014, and 2017. As of last week, San Diego County saw 685 pertussis cases in 2019.
The majority of those cases were reported in young people between 10 and 17-years-old.
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From 2014 to 2018, there were over 5,200 cases of whooping cough in San Diego County; one leading to the death of a five-week-old infant.
Pertussis, or whooping cough is a highly contagious respiratory infection caused by bacteria.
Symptoms include violent coughing fits, vomiting and lots of mucous. Infants under six are at greatest risks of complications.
There are only two vaccines that help prevent whooping cough.
