Public health report sheds light on whooping cough, TB

The Calaveras County Public Health Department has released its latest communicable disease report, which shows some diseases — including whooping cough and tuberculosis — are on the rise.

But the good news is no serious outbreaks of communicable diseases included in the latest report, from Jan. 1 to Oct. 1, are apparent. The report does note that the county has had one death from swine flu, also known as H1N1, this year, though the report doesn’t include swine flu case numbers.

State law requires that a long list of communicable diseases — including various sexually transmitted diseases — be reported to public health officials when they are diagnosed in the county. The Calaveras County report takes things a step further and includes a variety of other diseases. In all, over 60 diseases are listed on the report.
   

Some of the more notable figures come by way of chlamydia (34 infections), hepatitis C (49), whooping cough (9) and tuberculosis (16). The county also reported one case of malaria — a disease often associated with Third World tropical countries — though Calaveras County Public Health Director Colleen Tracy noted that the infected person contracted the disease while traveling elsewhere, likely in another country.

With 34 cases of chlamydia, the county has already matched its five-year average with three months in the year left to be tallied.

Tracy isn’t worried, though, saying there doesn’t appear to be an outbreak of the STD, as the cases don’t appear to be related. Additionally, she noted, chlamydia cases vary from year to year.

“Chlamydia is endemic in the county, which means it’s always occurring in the population,” she said, adding that the STD is endemic throughout the entire country.

Chlamydia, which can cause infertility in women, is the most commonly transmitted sexually disease because it often has no symptoms. Chlamydia is a bacteria-caused disease and can, therefore, be treated with antibiotics.

The other STD that tallied high numbers, meanwhile, hepatitis C, is a viral infection and cannot be treated with such drugs. With 49 cases diagnosed so far, the county has matched the five-year annual average for the disease. But this year’s figure is on track to be less than the 74 tallied last year.

The numbers may include prisoners from the Sierra Conservation Center, a state prison located in Calaveras and Tuolumne counties. Tuolumne County’s  hepatitis C statistics — 58 through October  — include state prisoners.

In some cases, experts say interferon — a product of the human immune system that activates white blood cells — can be injected into hepatitis C patients to kill the virus.

In most cases — about 80 percent — those who contract hepatitis C will develop the chronic form of the disease. The acute stage, usually followed by a drawn-out asymptomatic stage, consists of the gradual failure of the infected person’s liver. Hepatitis C is the most dangerous of the hepatitis viruses.

To avoid getting an STD, doctors advise people to abstain from sex or use some kind of barrier protection, and avoid intravenous drug use.

Though it is an STD, hepatitis C is primarily spread by intravenous drug users who share needles.

Whooping cough, which can be spread through the air, has taken a big jump this year. This year’s nine cases already trump the five-year annual average of 5.6. The county had only one case of whooping cough last year and none in 2007.

Most of the infections occurred last winter in children, who are particularly susceptible to the bacteria that causes whooping cough.

Tracy said her office is working to educate parents about the importance of getting their children vaccinated against the disease. She also said booster shots are recommended for teenagers.

Of the 16 cases of tuberculosis identified in the county this year, 14 of them are asymptomatic, meaning, according to Tracy, the infected people have no symptoms and cannot spread the disease. Of the two symptomatic cases, she stressed that they are not the much-feared antibiotic-resistant form of the disease. The two infections were contracted abroad, she noted.

“There’s no natural immunity to the bacteria that causes tuberculosis, but most people who become infected do not develop active TB,” Tracy said. “The majority of people’s immune systems are able to manage the disease.”

The classic symptoms of tuberculosis include a chronic cough with blood-tinged sputum, fever, night sweats, and weight loss. Infection of organs other than lungs causes a wide range of symptoms.