Whooping Cough Kills 5 in California

Friday, June 25th, 2010

California has a whooping cough epidemic, with 910 confirmed cases and five deaths:

Five children — all Latino and all under the age of 3 months — have died since the beginning of the year, Dr. Chavez said.

Dr. Chavez said that lack of information and inoculations in agricultural regions in the state’s Central Valley — home to many Latino farm workers — might be a culprit in the high incidence in that community. And indeed, Fresno County — in the heart of the valley — has the highest number of cases in the state, with 72 reported in May alone.

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