Baby boy in California dies from whooping cough and officials urge pregnant ...

A baby in California has died from whooping cough - the first such death in the state this year.

The Department of Public Health said the child was from Orange County, but did not reveal any details about the baby's age or sex, or when the death occurred.

Officials say this is the first infant death related to whooping cough in Orange County since 2007, and the first death in the state since July 2018.  

'We are deeply saddened by this loss of life and send our condolences to the family,' Dr Nichole Quick, interim county health officer, said in a news release. 

A baby in Orange Country, California, has died of whooping cough - the first in the county in more than a decade (file image) 

The Orange County Health Care Agency said that in 2018, 171 cases of whooping cough were reported, eight of which were among infants under three months old.

Seven of those eight infants had to be hospitalized.  

Usually, whooping cough is reported in singular cases. However, several California counties reported school-wide outbreaks this year.

The Los Angeles Times reported that nearly 50 students at the prestigious Harvard-Westlake School fell ill with whooping cough, part of a larger outbreak in the LA-area.

And, just 100 miles south, officials in San Diego County have confirmed at least 70 cases of pertussis, according to KGTV. 

Whooping cough, also known as pertussis, is a respiratory tract infection that is highly contagious.

When someone coughs, sneezes or talks, infected droplets are sprayed into the air, where other people can inhale them

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