Whooping cough outbreaks declared in Iqaluit, Pond Inlet

CBC News

· Posted: Jun 21, 2025 1:08 PM EDT | Last Updated: 7 minutes ago

There's an outbreak of whooping cough successful Iqaluit and Pond Inlet, Nunavut, according to the territory's main nationalist wellness officer.

The Department of Health announced the outbreaks successful a brace of quality releases Saturday. It said anyone tin get the respiratory illness — besides known arsenic pertussis — but that the astir terrible cases are successful children nether the property of one. 

Though it spreads easy from idiosyncratic to person, the section says it's preventable by getting vaccinated. 

Symptoms of whooping cough see a debased fever, a cough that lasts longer than a week oregon is followed by an antithetic "whoop" sound, vomiting aft coughing and coughing that is worse astatine night.

Anyone with these symptoms is told to enactment home, debar interaction with others, and to interaction their section wellness centre.

The section says whooping cough tin dispersed from the clip idiosyncratic catches it — earlier they commencement coughing — until 3 weeks aft their symptoms person started, oregon until they've been taking attraction for 5 days. 

The section says whooping cough tin beryllium treated with antibiotics. They're urging radical to get vaccinated against the disease, but besides to curb the dispersed with predominant manus washing, coughing into tissues oregon sleeves, and not sharing food, drinks, utensils oregon toothbrushes.

Outbreaks of whooping cough that began successful Kugaruuk and Naujaat successful the outpouring were declared implicit past month.