Whooping cough, also known as pertussis, is spreading rapidly across the United States. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), cases have surged fivefold compared to last year, with the highest number of infections since 2014. This alarming trend has experts scrambling to find new ways to combat the disease.

One potential solution is to conduct human challenge trials, where people are intentionally infected with whooping cough to test the effectiveness of new vaccines. This approach has been met with mixed reactions from experts, who are eager to find a solution but unsure if the methodology is refined enough.

"We do not have very good pertussis vaccines," explains Dr. Archana Chatterjee, a pediatric disease specialist. "These vaccines have done a yeoman's job for us for many decades, but they are not doing the job as well as they used to do." The current vaccines offer strong initial protection, but it wears off after two or three years, leaving many individuals susceptible to infection.

The rise in whooping cough cases is not limited to the US. In the 1990s, the US changed its vaccine approach, switching from a whole-cell vaccine to a newer vaccine that caused fewer side effects but offered less durable protection. Other countries that made this switch have seen cases increase, suggesting that the vaccine's incomplete protection has allowed the bacteria to mutate and evade the immune response.

The CDC's Nationally Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System reports that the US has seen 14,569 cases this year, compared to 2,844 at the same time last year. The infection starts with symptoms similar to a cold, but can progress to severe, violent coughing fits that can lead to hospitalization and even death.

Experts believe that vaccinated individuals are at a higher risk of severe infection, and rare cases of death. However, doctors have observed increasingly severe cases in unvaccinated individuals.

Young children typically receive five doses of a vaccine against pertussis, and boosters are recommended for children over 11 and pregnant women. However, protection from vaccines wanes quickly, often within two to three years, leaving many individuals vulnerable to infection.

The FDA's Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee met recently to discuss the prospect of human challenge trials. The meeting highlighted the need for better, more durable immunizations against whooping cough that also don't cause as many side effects.

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