Last year there were 65 incidents of the infectious disease, which can kill babies, compared to 22 four years previously.

Cases of listeria, which is dangerous for pregnant women and the elderly, have also reached a four-year high in the North East, according to information from the Health Protection Agency (HPA).

Nationally, the figures showed a number of diseases thought to have been almost eliminated – including cholera, typhoid and tuberculosis (TB) – were on the increase.

Liberal Democrat Shadow Health Secretary Norman Lamb, who obtained the figures, said: "People will be shocked to hear that diseases which belonged to a bygone era are making a comeback.

"Prevention is often a case of a simple vaccine. The NHS is failing in its duty to prevent easily avoidable disease."

Babies are vaccinated against whooping cough at two, three and four months, and receive a booster before they start school.

Before the vaccine was introduced there were often more than 100,000 cases per year in England and Wales, but after it was introduced in the 1950s the rate fell dramatically to about 2,000 cases a year.

There were 386 cases in 2003, but soared to 1,071 last year, although take-up of the jab has remained at about 94 per cent.

The new HPA data also showed cases of scarlet fever in the North East fell from 149 in 2003 to 110 last year, mumps dropped by 544 to 158, and TB dipped slightly from 147 to 144 in 2006.

And it revealed there have been 12 cases of typhoid fever and five of cholera in the region in the last five years.

The Department of Health refuted allegations that certain infectious diseases were making a comeback nationally.
"Cases are imported from abroad and may reflect greater travel or population movements," said a spokesman.

"Whooping cough cases fluctuate on about a four-year cycle, so there will always be highs and lows that are comparable with fluctuations in other countries."