Whooping cough cases are soaring. Can infecting people help test a better vaccine? | CNN Whooping cough is surging in the United States, with cases now five times higher than they were at the same point last year, according to preliminary data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that was reported Friday. Brenda Goodman, Deidre McPhillips CNN

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This year’s spike in cases marks a return to pre-pandemic levels of this infection, which is also called pertussis.

Even before the Covid-19 pandemic, whooping cough cases were trending upward in the US, because the vaccines that are currently used offer strong initial protection that wears off after two or three years.

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