Five times as many cases of the potentially fatal illness have been reported so far in 2024, compared with the same time last year.

Whooping cough is at its highest level in a decade for this time of year, U.S. health officials reported Thursday. There have been 18,506 cases of whooping cough reported so far, the CDC said. That's the most at this point in the year since 2014,

Whooping cough cases have increased to record levels since 2014, with four times as many cases compared to last year, data from the CDC showed. There have been more than 16,000 cases this year alone and two confirmed deaths,