TOO LATE FOR ONE BABY WITH WHOOPING COUGH PERTUSSIS AND A VIDEO ABOUT WHOOPING COUGH ADULTS GET IT TOO AND MAY NOT KNOW

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Whooping cough is an infectious bacterial disease that causes uncontrollable coughing. The name Whooping cough comes from the noise you make when you take a breath after you cough. You may have choking spells or may cough so hard that you vomit. Anyone including adults can and do get whooping cough. Adults may have whooping cough and often neither they or their doctor will suspect it as the cause of a long term or chronic cough because they don't think of whooping cough in adults. Whooping cough pertussis is especially dangerous in infants. The coughing spells can be so bad that it is hard for infants to eat, drink or breathe.


In her blog, ERNursery, the author, a nurse describes a heart breaking encounter with a baby that had whooping cough pertussis.

Whooping Cough


Before there was a vaccine, whooping cough pertussis was one of the most common childhood diseases and a major cause of childhood deaths in the U.S. It was a major cause of serious illness and death among infants and young children prior to the development of the pertussis vaccine. The pertussis vaccine is given combined with others. Newer versions called acellular are designed to produce few side effects compared with the old cellular vaccine. In 2005 the CDC suggested that adults from 19 to 64 years of age be vaccinated with an adult booster tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis whooping cough vaccine (Tdap). The CDC recommended that adults receive a booster dose of Tdap vaccine against tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis if they have not received a tetanus and diphtheria (Td) booster dose in ten or more years. Adults should receive a single dose of Tdap to replace a single dose of Td. The CDC says that pertussis affects an estimated 600,000 adults every year, aged 20 to 64 years, and can result in weeks of coughing, cracked ribs from severe coughing spells, pneumonia, and other complications.

CDC Pertussis Whooping Cough Fact Sheet







Video about Whooping Cough Pertussis Click the arrow to start







There are fewer cases today than before the vaccines but the numbers appear to be going up. Waning immunity is increasingly recognized as a cause of illness in teens and adults. But because whooping cough is often mistaken for other coughing-related conditions, the true incidence of the disease has not been known. Most children get combination vaccines for tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis with names like DTaP. If you have whooping cough, treatment with antibiotics may help if given early.