Health officials are urging everyone to get vaccinated after another outbreak of pertussis, or whooping cough. So is one local southern Saskatchewan resident after she was infected by whooping cough this past July.

52-year-old Angela McDougall was a healthy adult and never left her hometown of Moose Jaw, yet somehow she ended up with the illness.

It started off as a regular cough and she thought it was just a regular cold. But her third week into coughing her throat closed up, and she had a hard time breathing. She went to the Emergency Room, where she was told she had bronchitis and was given medication and antibiotics.

Five days later, she was worse. Her airway closed up and she wasn't sure if she would be able to breathe. It was only a few seconds but it was terrifying for her not to be able to get air into her lungs. When she went to her doctor, she was tested for whooping cough and sent home with an antibiotic for the disease.

She felt relief from her pain and the next week Public Health phoned and said she had tested positive.

Angela McDougall (pictured above) said even though her persistent coughing has gone away, she still suffers from it every once in a while.

McDougall still has no idea how she caught the disease, but she was so scared of it that she wouldn't let her husband go to work in the morning until she had a good cough to know she would be able to breathe.

Although she was immunized as a child, she was unaware that you should get a booster as an adult. It's been since July that she was confirmed to have whooping cough and she was coughing until October. She still coughs occasionally but will go for her booster when she no longer has any symptoms.

"I'm telling people now, we should all get a booster. I still cough a little bit so I haven't gone for my booster just yet, but I plan on getting a booster ... Going through it myself, I could not imagine any child, whether it's a baby or a teenager even, I could not imagine anybody going through what I went through."

"Immunize yourself, your children, I cannot stress that [enough]. They're there for a reason and I was for immunizations to begin with, but having gone through a disease that can be prevented - get it done, because you don't want to watch any of your loved ones go through that."