Whooping cough cases on the rise as 21 Auckland schools report illness

Twenty one Auckland schools have had cases of whooping cough in the past month.

The disease, also known as pertussis is on the rise in the city after the school holidays.

Health NZ's clinical director of public health for the northern region Lavinia Perumal said the cases in schools or early childhood centres had risen from four in September.

There had been a total of 37 cases reported in Auckland in the past three week.

Whooping cough was always present in the community but tended to have surges.

"Whooping cough numbers fluctuate over a year, often rising when it spreads through a large household. It is easily transmitted, usually by coughing and sneezing," Perumal said.

Symptoms could be mild but could also cause a severe cough and difficulty breathing. It was particularly dangerous for babies.

Mount Albert Grammar sent a note to parents on Monday night, saying it was one of the schools with a notified case.

The school, which had more than 3700 students, distributed a letter from Health NZ that said there was a small chance students or teachers could have been infected.

The risk was low but it asked people with symptoms to stay home and to be careful if they had a baby or immunocompromised person in their household.

Perumal said the best way to be protected was to be immunised.

Whooping cough was on the childhood vaccination schedule, with the first dose given at six weeks.

There were boosters throughout life and pregnant women were advised to be immunised to help protect their newborns.

The PHF science pertussis dashboard showed there had been very small numbers of cases notified in other parts of the country over the past month.

The biggest outbreak this year was centred in the Bay of Plenty, Waikato and central North Island lakes in January and February, which had 132 cases over six weeks.

Doctors were worried then because of low childhood immunisation rates in parts of the region.