Child With Whooping Cough
Cases of whooping cough, caused by the bacteria Bordetella pertussis, have been cropping up all over the nation. As of two weeks ago, almost 10,000 new cases of pertussis had been reported in 2010, almost surpassing the total number of cases reported in 2009.
Public health experts are warning local health departments that this fall and winter are shaping up to be bad for whooping cough.
Many cases have been reported in California, where the incidence of pertussis is at a 50-year high. Eight infants have died in California, all but one too young to have been vaccinated.
The disease starts like the common cold, with runny nose or congestion, sneezing, and maybe mild cough or fever. But after 1-2 weeks, severe coughing begins.
Infants and children with the disease repeatedly cough violently and rapidly until the air is gone from their lungs and they’re forced to inhale with a loud “whooping” sound.
Pertussis is most severe for babies; more than half of infants less than 1 year of age who get the disease must be hospitalized. About 1 in 5 infants with pertussis contract pneumonia (lung infection), and about 1 in 100 will have convulsions. In rare cases (1 in 100), pertussis can be fatal, especially in infants.
Vaccination is the best prevention available. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the occurrence of whooping cough has decreased more than 80 percent since the development of a vaccine in the 1940s.
