Whooping Cough or Pertussis

                                                  Pertussis (Whooping Cough)

Pertussis, a respiratory illness commonly known as whooping cough, is a very contagious disease caused by a type of bacteria called Bordetella pertussis. Pertussis is found only in humans and is spread from person to person. People with pertussis usually spread the disease by coughing or sneezing while in close contact with others, who then breathe in the pertussis bacteria.Many infants who get pertussis are infected by older siblings, parents or caregivers who might not even know they have the disease.

Symptoms:

Pertussis usually develop within seven to ten days after being exposed, but sometimes not for as long as six weeks.Pertussis causes severe coughing spells, vomiting, and disturbed sleep. It can lead to weight loss, incontinence, rib fractures and passing out from violent coughing. Although you are often exhausted after a coughing fit, you usually appear fairly well in-between. Coughing fits generally become more common and severe as the illness continues, and can occur more often at night. The illness can be milder (less severe) and the typical "whoop" absent in children, teens, and adults who have been vaccinated.

Who gets Pertussis (Whooping Cough)?

Everyone is at risk for pertussis, but it is most severe for babies; more than half of infants younger than one year of age who get the disease are hospitalized. Of infants who are hospitalized with pertussis, one in four get pneumonia (lung infection), one or two in a hundred will have convulsions, and one or two in a hundred will die.Up to five in 100 adolescents and adults with pertussis are hospitalized. Of those patients, up to two in 100are diagnosed with pneumonia.The most common complications in a study of adults with pertussis were:
Weight loss (33%)
Loss of bladder control (28%)
Passing out (6%)
Rib fractures from severe coughing (4%)

Vaccine:

DTaP

FOR INFANTS AND CHILDREN

Children should get five doses of diphtheria and tetanus toxoids and acellular pertussis (DTaP) vaccine, one dose at each of the following ages:
2 months
4 months
6 months
15 through
18 months
4 through 6 years
DTaP vaccine may be given at the same visit as other vaccines.DTaP is not licensed for anyone over the age of six. Children older than six, adolescents, and adults may get a similar vaccine, Tdap.DTaP replaced an older version of the vaccine, called DTP.

Tdap

FOR PRE-TEENS, TEENS, AND ADULTS

Tdap is a tetanus-diphtheria-pertussis vaccine given to adolescents and adults as a one-time shot, or after exposure to tetanus under some circumstances. This is in place of one of the Td shots you would get every ten years. Adolescents 11 through 18 years of age (preferably at age 11-12 years) and adults 19 or older – who did not receive Tdap in adolescence – should receive a single dose of Tdap. Tdap is especially important for those in close contact with infants.Tdap should also be given to 7 through 10 year olds who are not fully immunized against pertussis.Pregnant women should receive a dose of Tdap during each pregnancy, preferably at 27 through 36 weeks to maximize that amount of protective antibodies passed to the baby, but the vaccine can be safely given at any time during pregnancy.Tdap can be given no matter when Td (tetanus-diphtheria vaccine) was last received.