Whooping cough outbreak being treated at Pittsburgh-area VA hospital

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Employees, patients and doctors at a Veterans Affairs hospital are getting preventive treatment for whooping cough after an outbreak was traced to several workers at an outpatient clinic.

Officials said tests confirmed 11 cases of the respiratory bacterial infection among employees at the VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System facility in the city’s Oakland neighborhood.

Three additional employees have symptoms, but tests are pending to confirm if they have whooping cough — a highly contagious illness also known as pertussis.

No patients were found to be ill with pertussis, but the agency said 52 patients were offered a protective dose of an antibiotic, said Dr. Robert Muder, chief of the VA’s infectious disease division. Employees, doctors, interns and medical students are taking a five-day course of antibiotics.

Whooping cough causes severe coughing spells and is not considered a threatening illness in adults, said Dr. Andrew Nowalk at the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh.