One child in Craven County was confirmed to have the highly contagious respiratory disease known as whooping cough, and there are several other children in the county who are also likely to have the disease.

The confirmed case of whooping cough, or pertussis, was seen in a child not old enough to attend school who had not been vaccinated for the disease because of religious reasons, said Summerly Cotton, adult health clinical coordinator for the Craven County Health Department. The child was treated and released from CarolinaEast Medical Center, and is now recovering.

The child was the sibling of two children at Creekside Elementary School who have probable cases of pertussis, Cotton said. Those students also were not vaccinated.

Cotton said parents can receive exemptions for their children from the state’s immunization requirements for religious reasons.

“(That) generally doesn’t put the public at risk, it puts the child at risk,” she said. “The child is at risk for getting the illness, but the other children have been vaccinated against it.”

There are also six other children who are suspected to have pertussis. Those children are students at H.J. MacDonald Middle School, James W. Smith Elementary, Arthur W. Edwards, and three children attend Creekside.

All of those children were vaccinated for the disease, except one child was not up to date on his or her vaccinations. The children had not been in contact with the child with the confirmed case.

“It might just be that they haven’t had the vaccination long enough,” Cotton said, of the children who were vaccinated. “It just may take some time for your body to build up some antibodies to it.”

Cotton said the health department has asked people who have spent 15 minutes or more or who have come within 3 feet or less of any person with symptoms of the disease to be treated.

“We’re asking their physicians to go ahead and treat that person with an antibiotic, just so they don’t get sick,” she said.

She said letters were sent out initially to H.J. MacDonald Middle School stating that all children needed to be treated, but she said that is not the case. she said that unless a child’s parents were contacted by the health department directly, the child does not need to be treated. she also said parents should not be concerned about sending their children to school.

“we had sent out letters notifying the parents to monitor their children for symptoms,” she said. “we sent out a letter to the physicians in the local area just to monitor for the symptoms as well.”

Cotton said initial symptoms of pertussis are similar to those associated with the common cold. The infection later causes coughing characterized by a “whoop” sound as a person breathes in, and can also result in vomiting. The disease can be treated with antibiotics.

“Older children tend to do relatively fine with it and with treatment, get over it very easily,” she said. “Oftentimes, the younger infants have to be hospitalized a little bit more often to receive supportive therapy.”

Jill best, the health department’s immunization nurse, said the DTaP vaccine protects against pertussis as well as against diphtheria and tetanus.

The vaccine is given at the department when a child reaches 2 months of age, 4 months, 6 months, and 12 months, best said. there is also a booster shot given to 4-or-5-year-old children that is required for children entering kindergarten.

Best also said there is another vaccine, Tdap, that protects against pertussis. A single dose is recommended for children 11 to 12 years old before a child enters the sixth grade.

Amy Caruso, public information officer for the N.C. Immunization Branch of the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services, said vaccines are not 100 percent effective in all people. she said that across North Carolina in July through November, there was an unofficial count of 135 confirmed pertussis cases, she said.

Laura Oleniacz can be reached at 252-635-5675 or at .