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Whooping cough
Whooping cough, also called ‘Pertussis’, is an acute
bacterial infection of the airways characterised by
severe and serious coughing bouts. Whooping cough
gets its name from the sound made by the infected
person breathing in with airway limitation. Pertussis
is the name of the bacteria causing the infection.
Both children and adults get whooping cough but
infection is more common in children under 5 years
of age. Whooping cough can be life threatening in
children aged less than 1 year. Despite vaccination,
pertussis epidemics still occur in Australia.
Symptoms
Initial pertussis symptoms, about 2–3 weeks after
airways infection, are those of a cold. The afflicted
person is highly infectious during this catarrhal phase
of runny nose, dry cough and sneezing.
The cough gets worse over 2–3 days with associated
symptoms of fever and tiredness. Infected airways
symptoms continue to get worse: the child has bouts
of severe coughing (often much more troublesome at
night) accompanied by large amounts of sputum
(material from the airways). Breathing requires effort.
As the child breathes in (inhales), a high pitched
crowing sound (the whoop) is heard. Coughing fits
can lead to vomiting. Coughing spasms with severe
airflow limitation can exhaust the child; breathing
may stop momentarily. Whooping cough symptoms
usually diminish over 1–3 months but a residual dry
cough may last for some months.
How pertussis spreads
Whooping cough spreads easily — usually by small
airborne infected droplets from coughs and sneezes.
Bacterial exposure from droplets can persist for
hours.
Infections of childhood, teens &
early adulthood.
The child with whooping cough should be excluded
from school or child care until five days after starting
antibiotic treatment. Children who have been in
contact with the afflicted child, unless they have been
immunised in the past 10 years, need to be
immunised. Children may be immunised as young as
2 months of age. Your doctor will notify the public
health authorities so that they can make sure other
children can be immunised.
Complications
Whooping cough is a serious infection. Pertussis can
lead to serious secondary airways complications such
as pneumonia. The child with complications usually
requires admission to hospital.
Treatment
Antibiotic therapy (Erythromycin) kills pertussis
bacteria. Antibiotic therapy is also given to those in
contact with the infected person especially if they are
not immunised. Bed rest during the acute phase of
whooping cough is part of the regimen. The
accompanying fever can be treated with Paracetamol.
Vaccination
Whooping cough can be prevented by DPT or Triple
Antigen immunisation which is given at 2, 4, and 6
months of age, with boosters at 18 months and 5
years of age.
Gain knowledge, make informed decisions.
Edu-cate® resource kit from School of Community Medicine, University of NSW Copyright © 2004. Last reviewed: September 2004.
Published by Health Impact Learning Systems, MedCare Systems Pty Ltd ABN 65 050 042 192 email [email protected]