An internal discussion on whether to introduce a whooping cough booster vaccination for adolescents is under way, a Health Ministry spokesman said.

The Malta Medical Journal reported recently that such a jab should be “strongly considered”. A study it published showed a significant rise in the number of sufferers in 2011 when 26 cases of pertussis – or whooping cough – appeared in the disease register compared to 30 between 2001 and 2010.

The study also showed that, in the year under review, whooping cough was more common among adolescents and adults, while the reported cases in the previous decade were mainly among children and, to a lesser extent, adolescents.

Figures obtained by Times of Malta showed that, last year, three cases were reported, and there had been 11 so far this year.

Over the past two years the patients included at least three adults.

Whooping cough is a highly contagious acute infection caused by the bacterium bortedella pertussis.

Since 2010, Malta’s national health services have offered a series of vaccinations for children against whooping cough.

Three vaccines are given: at the ages of six weeks, three months and four months.

When children are 18 months old they are given a combination vaccine that targets whooping cough and other infections such as diphtheria, tetanus and polio.

The study reported by the Malta Medical Journal pointed out that while Malta had a high vaccination rate, infections persisted as a consequence of waning immunity.

Vaccine-induced immunity lasts four to 12 years while naturally-acquired immunity lasts four to 20 years.

In the absence of further boosting, adolescents and adults are likely to “remain a reservoir of infection” and to transmit whooping cough to incompletely immunised or unimmunised infant, according to the study.

For this reason the researchers – Anthony Gatt, Alexia Bezzina, Amanda Saliba, David Pace and Victoria Farrugia Sant’Angelo – recommend having a booster vaccine noting that “feasibility and cost-effective analysis are essential”.

Asked if the Government was considering this, the Health Ministry spokesman said: “The situation with respect to the need for the introduction of a booster vaccination in adolescence is being assessed by the Advisory Committee on Immunisation Policy.”

The spokesman also pointed out that, in view of the fact that the number of people who suffered from whooping cough was small, “changes from one year to another have to be interpreted with caution”.

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