State and local health officials are investigating whooping cough cases from the state wresting tournament back in February. Run for your lives!

At least 15 people with whooping cough (pertussis) attended the 2009 Mat Classic — the state high school wrestling championships held at the Tacoma Dome Feb. 20-21. The cases were among wrestlers, coaching staff, and spectators at the event.

Hey, everyone, calm down: I didn’t come down with it. But Sequim’s heavyweight Thomas Gallagher told me he was one of those to come down with it during the tourney.

That makes his sixth-place finish all the more impressive.

After talking to him and hearing him describe how he felt progressively worse as the tourney wore on, it made me think he might have done much better: he won his first two matches to make the semifinals, then lost three in a row.

Of course, it could be that he simply ran into better opponents, but I’m sure the whooping cough didn’t help.

Pertussis is pretty common in Washington state — over the past decade, an average 600 cases have been reported each year. It’s a highly contagious sickness and spreads easily through coughing and sneezing. It feels like a common cold to star and gets progressively worse.