Whooping cough outbreak closes Virginia school

At least 30 people at Blue Mountain School in Floyd County, Virginia, including 23 of its 45 students, have been diagnosed with whooping cough, the highly contagious disease also called pertussis.

FLOYD COUNTY, VA (Roanoke Times) April 6, 2011 -- A small, private Floyd County, Virginia school has closed for the week after more than half its students became ill with whooping cough.

At least 30 people associated with Blue Mountain School have been diagnosed with the highly contagious disease, also called pertussis, including 23 of its 45 students, said the alternative school's director.

The Virginia Department of Health is working with the school to contain the outbreak. While the majority of the cases involve children, a few adult cases have been identified, the director of the New River Health District said.

The outbreak was caused by not properly vaccinating people against the disease, she said, noting that a subset of the population does not follow vaccination recommendations.

Link: http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/282419

Source: DHS Daily Open Source Infrastructure Report