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(PNA/Xinhua) -- Doctors' negligence was blamed for the failure to prevent eight infants in the U.S. State of California from dying from whooping cough this year, it was reported on Tuesday.

Doctors typically failed to make a swift and accurate diagnosis despite patients' multiple visits to clinics and hospitals, the Los Angeles Times said, citing an analysis of the cases.

"In several cases ... the infants were treated only for nasal congestion or mild upper respiratory infection," Dr. John Talarico, an immunization official with the California Department of Public Health, wrote in a recent letter to healthcare providers statewide, the paper said.

"By the time these infants developed severe respiratory distress, it was usually too late for any intervention to prevent their tragic deaths," Talarico wrote.

Because whooping cough, also known as pertussis, can be hard to diagnose, health officials urged physicians to suspect the bacterial disease in any infant under six months of age who is having trouble breathing, the paper said.

A quick diagnosis can lead to treatment with antibiotics, which can keep the patient from becoming gravely ill.

With children returning to classrooms this week, whooping cough is showing no sign of letting up in California.

"It's still on the upswing, and I think it's going to be accentuated with schools opening," said Dr. Jonathan Fielding, director for the Department of Public Health for Los Angeles County. "There is going to be increased opportunity for infection. "

He urged parents to keep sick children at home, and teachers to be alert about the spread of illness in the classroom.

California is in its worst year of whooping cough since 1958, with 3,600 cases reported so far this year -- a seven-fold increase from the same period last year.

Of the eight infants who have died, all were younger than three months old. Four of them died in Los Angeles County.