This is the time of year when whooping cough is prevalent, and the Marion County Public Health Department is reminding residents to watch out for signs of it in children and adults.

It’s formally known as pertussis, and Judi Van Hulzen from the department tells KNIA/KRLS News it presents differently in children and adults…with kids having the distinctive “whoop” in their cough mainly at night.

“And then they feel kind of okay during the day, but at night they get worse,” Van Hulzen says. “But with adults it can appear like bronchitis…so you have to be on the lookout for that, especially this time of year because it is whooping cough time of year.”

In 2012, Iowa saw a 425 percent increase in whooping cough cases; this led to mandatory vaccinations against pertussis as well as diphtheria for children going into the seventh grade.