Whooping cough outbreak declared across N.B.

A whooping cough, or Pertussis, outbreak originally declared on the Acadian Peninsula at the end of June was expanded to encompass the entire province. There have been 141 cases so far in 2024, exceeding the five-year average of 34 cases per year, with over half of new cases in recent weeks being recorded outside Zone 6, or the Bathurst and Acadian peninsula region. The N.B. government is stressing the importance of vaccination as the most effective way to reduce risk of contamination.