Whooping Cough (Pertussis)

Medical Name: Pertussis

What is the Whooping Cough ?

Whooping Cough (Pertussis) is a bacterial infection of the lungs which is caused by a bacterium Bordetella pertussis. It is a very contagious disease which causes coughing with little or no fever. The coughing may be so severe that it leads to vomiting and aspiration.

This infection is usually begins with a cold and a mild cough and effects the respiratory tract and the lungs. After that the disease eventually converts to severe coughing and many persons make a whoop sound after the person breathes in after coughing. Initially when there was no vaccination available to cure whooping cough, almost three out of every four children who suffered from the disease, died. Now today the condition has improved a lot and only a few people suffer from whooping cough.

Pertussis may occur to any person at any age, but it is very common in un immunized infants under one year age. So early immunization to small children is very important (usually at age of 1 or 2 months), as it can help to prevent very serious disease to occur in small babies.

It is now believed that adults who had been given vaccination when they were child, and their vaccinations are no longer effective and whose symptoms are less diagnostic may be the carriers for whooping cough, so they must be given a booster vaccination at age of 11- 12 years, so as to help them to fight from the disease properly.