Whooping cough cases have surged this year, hitting the highest levels recorded by the U.S. Centers For Disease Control and Prevention in a decade, CNN reports.

The CDC recorded six times more cases of whooping cough, a respiratory illness also known as pertussis, this year compared to last year, with 32,000 cases as of mid-December, the most since 2014. 

The disease typically causes low-grade fever, runny nose, and persistent cough that can develop into a more serious cough after a week, which can cause serious fits that force patients to vomit or even break their ribs.

"The difference is the cough can come in paroxysms, but the better word for it is just a lot at one time, to where we hear that we say ‘whoop’ because you cough, cough, cough, cough, cough and then you go whoop because you’ve got to breathe," Dr. Jason Newland, chief of infectious diseases at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, told The Hill.

He added that infants are the most vulnerable to whooping cough, saying, “They can come to the hospital not breathing. They can have neurologic conditions making them seize and they can die.”

Although cases of whooping cough dropped during the pandemic due to social distancing, mask-wearing, and other precautions against Covid-19, the disease has seen cases rise as these restrictions have been rescinded. Most cases this year were reported in New York, Pennsylvania, and several Midwestern states.

Newland said that the best way to prevent the infection is to receive the whooping cough vaccine starting at about two months old and again "every ten years."

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