article_snippet: ‘If you haven't been immunised against whooping cough (pertussis) please consider getting you haven't been immunised against whooping cough (pertussis) please consider getting it done done.
article_snippet: The Department of Health says The Department of Health does not know how the child contracted this horrific disease, also known as pertussis.
article_snippet: Infectious Diseases Expert at ANU Medical School Canberra, Sanjaya Senanayake, told Daily Mail Australia: 'From my point of view immunisation is wonderful particularly for whooping cough.'
article_snippet: Infectious Diseases Expert at ANU Medical School Canberra, Sanjaya Senanayake explained infants are 'at a high risk of dying if infants get infected' and that the death rate from whooping cough in infants under 6 months of age is about 1 per cent. '
article_snippet: Whooping cough is lethal in babies and in adults people can be absent from work for the persistent cough, it's a nasty infection.'
article_snippet: Whooping cough (also known as ‘pertussis’) is a highly contagious bacterial infection of the lungs and airways.
article_snippet: The government health website says the disease is 'highly infectious and most serious in babies under the age of 12 months'.
article_snippet: It’s very rare for children who have been immunised against whooping cough to get the disease –
article_snippet: According to the department's notifiable disease report, there have been 244 cases of whooping cough in WA in the year to date, compared to 292 cases for the corresponding period last year and 232 cases in the first 10 weeks of 2013.
highlights_snippet: Whooping cough is 'highly infectious' and lethal in babies .
  