Whooping cough continues to soar in Japan, yearly tally tops 40,000

Whooping cough cases continued to soar in Japan with the cumulative figure reaching 43,728 so far this year, a more than tenfold increase on the approximately 4,000 cases reported for all of 2024, a national health research institute said Tuesday.Preliminary data from the Japan Institute for Health Security also showed that the number of cases reported by hospitals and clinics across the country reached a new weekly record of 3,578. The tally for the week through July 6 was the highest since the current survey method was employed in 2018.Characterized by spasmodic coughing attacks, whooping…READ FULL ARTICLE