According to data published last week by the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 364 whopping cough cases were reported to health authorities last week. This marks the worst Thanksgiving time for the highly contagious infection in recent decades.

This statistic tops the previous Thanksgiving record of 228 cases of pertussis, which were reported for the week ending November 27, 2010. That year, there were 27,550 cases reported by the end of 2010, below the 28,167 already tallied so far this year.

According to experts, usuallyThanksgiving sees a slowdown in cases reported across most diseases because of delays in testing and reporting around the holiday as well as changes in people going to the doctor.

However, this year, whooping cough—also known as pertussis—a common respiratory illness has seen the number accelerate through most of the states. Usually, doctors say it is difficult to identify whooping cough because its symptoms are similar to those of other respiratory bacteria and viruses, which often circulate at the same time as whooping cough.

"Pertussis can be cyclical. After seeing lower numbers of reported cases in the past few years, during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, nationally, pertussis is now returning to pre-pandemic trends. Ohio is no different," a spokesperson for Ohio's health department said in a statement.

Authorities say this year's increase remained "consistent with some years prior to the COVID-19 pandemic” and has yet to top the total number of cases reported in 2013.

Doctors say the infection starts with symptoms like a runny nose, a low-grade fever, and a tickly cough. A week or two later, it moves into a new stage, leading to a violent full-body cough.

These coughing fits can be so severe that they cause patients to vomit or break ribs, and they are often accompanied by a whooping sound as the person tries to catch their breath. Babies do not cough in pertussis but may have breathing difficulties. This includes conditions like apnea - when there are pauses in their breathing. Whooping cough can cause serious, life-threatening complications in babies.

Early signs of whooping cough are exactly like those of the common cold. These symptoms persist for one to two weeks and may include:

• Mild fever
• Occasional coughing
• Runny nose
• A pause in breathing in babies
• Prolonged, repeated, or violent coughing episodes
• Whooping sound when inhaling after the coughing stops
• Vomiting
• Exhaustion

Doctors say symptoms of pertussis begin to lessen after four weeks, although bouts of coughing can recur for months after symptoms start.

According to health officials, there are a variety of factors that have spiked this year's wave of whooping cough cases, including gaps in immunity from vaccination or prior infection and the switch to safer but less effective vaccines in the 1990s.

"We have to acknowledge that our vaccination rates in Montgomery County for school-age children are low. They've decreased since the pandemic, and they're lower than the state of Ohio and lower than the United States as well," said Dr. Becky Thomas, medical director of the health department for Ohio's Montgomery County. Within Ohio, Montgomery County makes up the largest share of cases reported in recent months, despite not having the most people in the state.

Doctors say antibiotics can treat the infection, but only if it is diagnosed within the first few weeks, before the arrival of the exhausting, painful cough. Then, the only treatment is comfort care with plenty of rest and fluids while the infection runs its course.

According to experts, this year's whooping cough surge also comes as health departments are bracing for the return of an expected COVID-19 wave and flu infections this winter.

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