Coos Bay schools have sent home two students the past couple weeks with whooping cough. Nurse Angie Webster said the kids have been put on a five-day antibiotic regimen and should return to school soon.

Although they may continue to have coughing fits upon their return, the students shouldn't be contagious, she said.

Whooping cough, caused by the bacteria Bordetella pertussis, is a communicable disease that can be prevented through vaccination. Sharing a classroom with an infected student would not necessarily lead to transmission of the disease, Webster said.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention say the disease spreads when an infected person coughs or sneezes while in close contact with others. People very close then breathe in the bacteria.

Webster has called parents of students who may have been exposed.

"I'd rather have them looking for symptoms than not be aware," she said.

The CDC said the disease starts like a common cold, but after a week or two, severe coughing begins. Children who get it can cough violently and rapidly, over and over. Once the air is gone from their lungs, they inhale with a loud whooping sound.

Coos County Public Health notified the school district of the infected students, Webster said. Countywide, there have been four reported cases of whooping cough.

Public Health's Lena Hawtin, a registered nurse, said recent Coos County cases have included three children from Coos Bay and one from Coquille. The disease is not common in Coos County, she said, noting there were no confirmed cases in 2007 and 2008.

There were two in 2006.

In addition to whooping cough, the department is investigating two reports of Hepatitis A, two reports of Hepatitis B and recently had a case of meningococcal disease.