The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the United States may be in for the worst year for whooping cough in fifty years. Nearly 18,000 cases have been reported so far in 2012. That is more than twice the number at the same time last year. Number could approach the 40,000 that were recorded in 1959.

The Mecklenburg County Health Department says many people were protected by immunization as a child but that initial series of shots wears off over time. The health department says that anyone who has not received a booster to protect themselves from whooping cough, should get one this year. The State Health Department especially encourages pregnant women, close contacts of infants under 12 months of age (parents, siblings, grandparents, household contacts, child care providers) and anyone with respiratory disease to be immunized.  Read an alert from the State Health Department. Read the latest information from the Mecklenburg County Health Department.