Four Anchorage students have now tested positive for whooping cough, the school district said Monday.
The latest case was reported at College Gate Elementary School, the school district said in an email.
“This is in addition to the cases and potential cases of which we are aware at South High School, Goldenview Middle School, Bear Valley Elementary School, Rabbit Creek Elementary School, and Aquarian Charter School,” the district said in an email.
MJ Thim, a spokesman for the district, said Monday evening via text there are now four confirmed cases and four suspected cases total at Anchorage schools. Thim could not immediately clarify which schools were associated with confirmed cases versus suspected cases.
Whooping cough is a highly contagious respiratory disease also known as pertussis. It’s a bacterial infection that can cause violent, uncontrollable coughing that can make it difficult to breathe.
Whooping cough is spread through respiratory droplets, including by coughing, sneezing or sharing saliva. An infected person can spread the illness to others during the first three weeks of infection unless they’ve been treated for five days with antibiotics. Students cannot return to school until they’ve finished treatment, the district said.
The first symptoms to appear are often a runny nose, low-grade fever or mild cough, but severe coughing fits can follow.
Whooping cough can be diagnosed through testing, but it can take up to seven days to receive results, the school district said. On Sunday, officials told families in an email there “could be a risk of infection to others.”
Alaska has seen a significant spike in cases this year. By July there were roughly five times more reported cases than there were during all of 2023, according to data from the state Department of Health.
The director of health care services at the school district said this is the first time in recent years that whooping cough has been confirmed in Anchorage schools.