This 19th-Century killer is making a comeback – and with protection from the whooping cough vaccine waning over time, the hunt is on for something longer-lasting.

Whooping cough wasn’t really on Juliet Lautenbach’s radar. During her pregnancy and her daughter’s childhood, both had received free public vaccines against whooping cough along with all the other standard immunisations.

But five years after giving birth, Lautenbach was working in an open-plan office with a colleague who was coughing a lot. The coworker revealed that she had whooping cough, and Lautenbach realised that both her persistent cough and her daughter’s could be related. Lautenbach doesn’t blame that colleague, but notes that “for every person who walks around with wh