Vaccinate your kids against whooping cough urge medics as cases more than double

Whooping cough cases rose by a 147% last year, prompting medics to urge parents to get their children vaccinated.

The potentially lethal illness was diagnosed 1,040 times in England and Wales in 2011, up from 421 in 2010.

Professor Warren Lenney from the British Lung Foundation encouraged mums and dads to get their children immunised, and said that parents must not be scared of the vaccine for the illness:

"It is important that parents are not afraid to get children immunised against whooping cough," he told reporters, "Sometimes in the past there have been periods where uptake of various immunisations has been low and the result has been a rise in the associated diseases."

Whilst the immunisation programme is routinely available for young children, cases of the illness amongst the 15-40 age bracket have increased, and because older sufferers are more infectious, the disease spreads more easily.

Latest UK figures show 94.8% of newborn children have their first whooping cough vaccine within 12 months of birth, and by the age of five, 87.7% had been given their boosters, too.

Dr Mary Ramsay, of the Health Protection Agency told The Mirror: "We usually see a rise in cases of whooping cough every three to four years. The uptake of the vaccine which protects against whooping cough is very good but it is a highly infectious disease so when there is a case it can spread quickly. Parents should ensure their children are up to date with their vaccinations."

You can find out more about whooping cough and vaccinations on the NHS Choices website.

Have your children had the whooping cough vaccine?