Durand (WQOW) - An area school district is keeping an eye on a handful of whooping cough cases.
The Pepin County Health Department has confirmed five cases of whooping cough in the Durand Area School District. All the cases are from the past four or five weeks. The health department says for the most part the cases aren't related. The school district has put information on its web site letting parents know what to look for.
"At this point it doesn't seem to be epidemic, we're just watching it and wanted to make sure parents were aware of that, so if students had those symptoms, they could get them checked out right away," says Dr. Ken Rogers. "Catching it, from our school nurses have told us, keeping it in track is important to keeping it from spreading."
The Pepin County Health Department says there have been no other cases in the county, but a number of people have been tested. In Eau Claire County, 71 cases have been reported since mid-November: 19 in Altoona, 20 in Fall Creek and 32 in Eau Claire. The Eau Claire City-County Health Department says it's starting to see things taper off. The Chippewa County Health Department says there was one case of whooping cough that was confirmed in a student at the Chippewa Falls Middle School.
