Whooping cough cases continue rising statewide and Southeast

State health officials have recorded 234 cases this year of whooping cough — also known as pertussis — through Sept. 9, more than were reported over the past seven years combined. About three-quarters of this year’s cases came in the past three months.

Of the statewide total, SEARHC reports 11 in Southeast from June through early September, Lyndsey Y. Schaefer, communications director for the health care provider, said in an emailed statement Sept. 12.

Privacy rules prevent SEARHC from disclosing the communities with whooping cough cases, she said.

In Alaska, one infant has died from pertussis...