Whooping cough is surging in Australia. Why, and how can we protect ourselves?

By Laurence Don Wai Luu, Lecturer and Chancellor's Research Fellow, School of Life Sciences, University of Technology Sydney

Australia is facing a whooping cough outbreak. Some 2,799 cases were recorded in the first three months of 2024. Cases are highest in Queensland and New South Wales, with more than 1,000 recorded in each state.

The last time Queensland recorded more than 1,000 cases in three months was the first quarter of 2013. This was at the tail end of a significant outbreak that spanned 2008 until 2012 – Australia’s largest reported outbreak since the…

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