Pertussis, commonly known as whooping cough, is a vaccine-preventable disease which continues to circulate even in areas where vaccination coverage is high, and outbreaks may still occur. A study published in Eurosurveillance and conducted at Meyer Children’s Hospital in Florence, Italy, has found a sharp increase in hospitalisations for pertussis among children and adolescents (patients aged 16 years or under) in 2024.