Whooping cough reaches epidemic level in Texas: official

By Kevin Murphy (Reuters) – Whooping cough has reached epidemic proportions in Texas and could hit a 50-year high, a health official said on Thursday. Nearly 2,000 cases of whooping cough have been reported in Texas this year. Two infants, who were too young to receive the whooping cough vaccine, have died, state officials said. The number of cases likely will surpass the recent high of 3,358 in 2009, according to the state health services department. “We’re clearly having an epidemic,” said Dr. …