Whooping cough cases rising across U.S.

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- Whooping cough is on the rise in the U.S., and the CDC said protection from the illness's vaccine is waning.

So far this year, there have been 14,500 reported cases of the disease. That's nearly five times higher than the number of cases at this time last year.

The vaccine's effectiveness starts to wear off two or three years after taking it.

The FDA's vaccine committee met Friday to discuss whether it might allow a human challenge trial. That involves purposely giving people whooping cough to test the effectiveness of a vaccine.