As many as 60 students and staff at Ames Middle School may be at risk of contracting whooping cough after one student case of the highly contagious disease was confirmed Friday.

Whooping cough, officially known as pertussis, is an airborne bacterial illness that causes severe coughing and sometimes vomiting.

Tim Taylor, deputy superintendent of Ames Community Schools, said a student on the Ames Middle School wrestling team was confirmed as having whooping cough and was given antibiotics and told to stay home from school for five days.

Iowa Department of Public Health guidelines require the school to report any cases of pertussis, and Taylor said he has been working closely with the department to make sure people who have had close contact with the student have been notified to go to the doctor if they show any symptoms of the illness.

“Those on the wrestling team were a major portion of the list given to the department of health to contact,” Taylor said.

“Five people have been asked to stay home because they were found to be symptomatic.”

No more cases have been confirmed because Taylor said it takes about five days for test results for the illness to come back.

“The numbers could grow,” he said. “In the next couple of days, we’ll certainly know a lot more.”

Taylor said the people who are symptomatic of the illness and have been asked to stay home may actually have a cold or the flu — whooping cough is deceptively similar to these illnesses in its incubation period.

According to the Iowa Department of Public Health Web site, coughing, sneezing and a runny nose are all common symptoms of whooping cough. But after one to two weeks the coughing comes in violent spells, leaving its victim gasping for air. The coughing fits are often followed by vomiting.

Whooping cough is usually more severe and contagious if left untreated after the incubation period of five to 10 days, according to the Web site. Anyone is able to contract the illness, but it is most common in infants less than 1-year-old.

Taylor said the school had a similar incidence of whooping cough last year, and they are using the same processes and procedures to handle a possible outbreak of the illness.

“We were able to contain it then,” he said. “I think we’re pretty much right on top of it and doing the best we can.”