Pertussis — or whooping cough — is an infection of the respiratory system and is a highly contagious respiratory tract infection. An infected person sneezes or coughs, small
droplets containing the bacteria move through the air, and the disease is easily spread from person to person.
Whooping cough can affect people of any age. Before vaccines were widely available, the disease was most common in infants and young children. Now that most children are immunized before entering school, the higher percentage of cases is seen among adolescents and adults.
Initial symptoms, similar to the common cold, usually develop about a week after exposure to the bacteria. Severe episodes of coughing start about 10 to 12 days later. In children, the coughing often ends with a "whoop" noise. The sound is produced when the patient tries to take a breath. The whoop noise is rare in patients under 6 months of age and in adults.
Other pertussis symptoms include:
01. Runny nose
02. mild fever or cough
03. diarrhea
04. Sneezing
Whooping Cough caused by the bacterium Bordetella pertussis.
diagnosis include culturing of nasopharyngeal swabs on Bordet-Gengou medium and serological methods. first three weeks of illness bacteria can be recovered from the patient, rendering culturing and DFA useless after this period.most adults and adolescents
often do not seek medical care until several weeks into their illness, serology may be used
to determine whether antibody against pertussis toxin or another component of B(Bordetella).When pertussis is present at high levels in the blood of the patient then they have been contagious for some weeks and may have spread the infection to many people.
Whooping is more dangerous for younger Children than adults, most are admitted to hospital. Who does not required to hospitalization, At home after a doctor has diagnosed whooping cough here are some tips to manage the disease.