HispanicBusiness

A dramatic rise in the number of people with whooping cough has been revealed.

In the first 48 weeks of 2012, laboratory testing confirmed 1704 cases of whooping cough - 17 times the total for the same period of 2011.

Young children are the most at risk from the disease, which can prove fatal.

The Health Protection Scotland figures reveal that 130 of the confirmed cases were of babies under the age of one, of which 69% were of those younger than three months.

Newborn children cannot normally be vaccinated until they are at least eight weeks old.

A temporary programme to immunise pregnant woman against whooping cough was introduced.

By vaccinating mothers-to-be, it is believed they will pass on some short-term immunity to their babies when they are born.