Five babies from Serbia's central Sumadija region diagnosed with whooping cough

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Five cases of whooping cough have been confirmed in Sumadija in babies younger than two months. Three babies are from Kragujevac, while two are from Arandjelovac, iKragujevac reports.

"Since they are extremely young, these babies could not be vaccinated, which makes them extremely vulnerable to infection," said a representative of the Kragujevac Public Health Institute.

In order to improve the detection and control of this infectious disease, the Institute in Kragujevac has started operating a new laboratory department for whooping cough testing since April.

Testing is free of charge and financed from the resources of the Serbian State (Republic) Health Insurance Fund.

"We suspect it's whooping cough if the cough lasts longer than two weeks and there is no other obvious cause," warned the Institute of Public Health of Serbia.

"In such cases, laboratory testing is necessary to confirm or reject the presence of the infection," they add.

Doctors urge parents to vaccinate their children to protect them against whooping cough.

Since the beginning of the whooping cough epidemic in Serbia this season, 1,342 persons have been infected.

(Telegraf.rs)