To protect infants from the resurgence of whopping cough -- also know as pertussis -- the Grey Bruce Health Unit wants you to get immunized.

Doctor Jonathan Thomas is the Lead Physician at the Peninsula Family Health Team and says adults should be getting a least one pertussis booster.

He says the issue is current immunizations do not provide life-long immunity.

Whooping cough is a highly infectious respiratory bug with mortality and morbidity associated primarily in infants.

Doctor Thomas says until the 1940's whooping cough was a much bigger deal but tailed off over the years.

However, the Doctor says for reasons that they are not particularly clear on whooping cough rates have started to rise.

Public Health hasn't classified the recent resurgence as an outbreak and Thomas says it's generally more serious in major urban centres, but he does say they're seeing a rise in whooping cough cases here in Grey Bruce.

To combat the increase, Doctor Thomas says they have launched a campaign to encourage everyone to get the free booster shot.

Doctor Thomas knows of at least one infant that had to be hospitalized because of whooping cough.

You can get a whooping cough booster shot through your family doctor, Public Health, one of the Family Health Team's.