Whooping Cough
Whooping Cough
Whooping cough which is otherwise called pertussis is a respiratory disease. It is caused by a bacterium called Bordetella pertussis. It causes continuous and severe coughing in the affected person. The coughing may leads to vomiting and loud inspiration. It mainly affects the kid’s below four years of age. This is a contagious disease that spreads through aerosol droplets.
Symptoms of Whooping Cough
The symptoms of whooping cough starts 7 days after the infection and at times it may appears even 21 days after infection. The symptoms starts as normal cold symptoms and the kid may be experiencing runny nose, mild fever and sneezing. The child may have mild cough, sore throat and night cough also. Many of the affected kids lose their appetite. The child may feel much tired too. Sometimes the fever may not exist.
When the disease progresses the respiratory congestion may also increase and there may be thick nasal discharge. This condition may continue up to one or two weeks. There after the symptoms becomes more aggressive and the child began to cough forcefully for about 10 times in a single expiration and the cough may end with a whooping sound.
The sound is produced because suddenly after the cough the air is inhaled in to a narrow glottis. While coughing the face may turn blue or red and the tongue may protrude and there may be drooling too. Sometimes the kid may vomit at the end of coughing. This severe coughing may last up to 4 weeks and the affect may be experience weight loss.
Causes of Whooping Cough
The infection caused by the bacteria leads to inflammation of the respiratory tract and that narrows the airways in lungs. This results in breathing troubles and cough. It spreads from the infected person to others by direct contact. The droplets resulting from the sneeze and cough of the infected persons carries the bacteria and spreads the diseases. The unidentified adults and adolescents are the main sources for spreading this disease.
Whooping cough if left untreated may lead to pneumonia and death. Adults may have mild symptoms only and it need to be treated with antibiotics. Vaccinations against this disease are available now a day.
