Whooping cough hits Ashland County

ASHLAND (AP) - Ashland County now has 10 cases of whooping cough.

Cyndi Zach, the public health administrator for the county health and human services department, says the cases include nine students in the Ashland School District and one adult.

She tells The Daily Press that four others are being watched as "suspects" for whooping cough, or pertussis as it is clinically known.

The first reported case involved a student in the Ashland Middle School in December.

Whooping cough is an extremely contagious bacterial disease that brings on uncontrollable, often violent coughing, which can make it hard to breathe.