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WA hospital tests hundreds of patients possibly exposed to whooping cough

Infection Control Monitor, July 30, 2004

Hundreds of patients at a Seattle hospital were potentially exposed to whooping cough from two employees who contracted the illness from an emergency room physician, the Seattle Times reports.

Swedish Medical Center officials are contacting and asking the 400 patients who may have been exposed over the past few weeks to go to the hospital for protective antibiotics and evaluation.

Hospital officials say that an emergency room physician who had a confirmed case of the disease likely exposed 200 of the 400 patients to whooping cough. After that, two obstetric-gynecology employees likely contracted the illness from that doctor. Those two employees, who now have symptoms, had contact with the other ob-gyn patients.

The contact between the infected emergency room doctor and the two employees occurred outside the hospital.

Transmission of the bacteria that causes whooping cough is usually through droplets expelled when an infected person coughs. Close contact with an infected person is necessary in order to transmit the disease.

So far, none of the patients or other hospital employees potentially exposed tested positive for the illness.

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