Washington state officials warned of a "sharp increase" in whooping cough cases compared to this time last year, mirroring a nationwide trend.

State health officials are monitoring increasing cases of whooping cough and pneumonia.Children and adolescents are primarily affected by those bacterial respiratory illnesses,<a class="excerpt-read-m

This year could be a decade-high for whooping cough cases in Washington state, according to numbers by the state Department of Health.