MESA, Ariz. (AP) -- Arizona health officials want tougher immunization requirements for school children in an attempt to stop the spread of whooping cough.

Formally known as pertussis, whooping cough was once thought to be on the decline in the United States because of childhood vaccinations.

But the vaccine's immunity wore off over time, and the respiratory illness has made a comeback. Nearly 1,000 cases were reported in Arizona in 2005.

Now the state Department of Health Services wants children ages 11 and older to receive a booster of the pertussis vaccine.

"This is really to protect those junior high kids, but more importantly to protect that newborn at home who hasn't started the immunization series," said Nadine Miller, health services director in the Mesa Unified School District. "The average teenager will be sick, but an infant will be really sick, often hospitalized."

Mesa school nurses have placed notices in school newsletters to alert parents of the need to get the "Tdap" vaccine, which along with pertussis includes boosters to ward off tetanus and diphtheria.

"Other states are putting in these requirements, too," said Kathy Fredrickson, chief of the Arizona Immunization Program Office. "It's not a big leap to this requirement since many states already require a tetanus (vaccine). It's virtually the same vaccine, only now it has an additional protection for pertussis."

While whooping cough is rare, the bacterial illness is highly contagious, transmitted by breathing in airborne droplets. It can cause weeks of severe coughing that causes patients to make a "whooping" sound when they gasp between coughs.

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Information from: East Valley Tribune/Scottsdale Tribune, http://www.eastvalleytribune.com

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