An illustration of Bacteria Bordetella pertussis which causes whooping cough. Photo: 123RF
Public health officials are urgently trying to sequence a strain of whooping cough to see if it is unusually deadly.
Te Whatu Ora has set up an expert taskforce to investigate after three babies died from the disease, also known as pertussis, this year.
Te Whatu Ora public health director Nick Chamberlain said it was unusual to have had three deaths when there had only been 11 cases officially reported.
"The taskforce will be looking at ... whether there's a specific issue with this particular pertussis bacteria and whether it's causing specific problems which are much more severe than we would normally see," he said.
It was working with ESR to try to get the strain genetically sequenced in Australia and was speaking with overseas colleagues to see if any severe disease was circulating internationally.
"If we identify there that there is a specific high risk strain then there will be an action plan around it," he said.
It was also looking at the possibility of undetected community transmission.
There had been 300 surveillance tests of people with respiratory symptoms last week - all came back negative, Chamberlain said.
The taskforce included paediatricians, public health physicians and infectious disease specialists.
In the meantime, Te Whatu Ora had written to doctors and midwives telling them to prioritise getting pregnant women vaccinated to protect their newborns who could not be immunised for six weeks.
And it told them to be extra vigilant for the disease when dealing with respiratory patients.
Doctors were very worried about the low rate of childhood vaccinations and the implications for future outbreaks of disease.
A report released on Wednesday made 54 recommendations to try to lift the "dire" rate for under-fives that had plummeted during the Covid pandemic.