Facts about Whooping Cough - Pertussis

Pertussis or whooping cough is a respiratory infection caused by the bacteria Bordello pertussis. This bacteria resides in the nose, mouth and and the throat of an infected person. A highly contagious disease, pertussis is generally transmitted from one person to another while coughing or sneezing. Parapertussis, which is a milder version of pertussis, is caused by a bacteria called Bordtella parapertussis.

Whopping cough can last for several weeks, and eventually lead to further complications like pneumonia, encephalitis or pulmonary hypertension. In case of infants, this disease may lead to brain damage which can eventually cause death. It shows symptoms such as cough, running nose, vomiting and sneezing. These symptoms may start appearing after incubation period (7-14 days). The diagnosis for pertussis can be done by testing the culture taken from the nose.

This disease generally affects children below the age of 1 year. Around 30 per cent of the pertussis infected people worldwide are infants below the age of 1 year. Although it's the children who are mostly affected by this disease, it is noticed that most often adults and adolescents are the main carriers of this bacteria and it is transmitted to the children by airborne discharges.

Stages of Whooping Cough
Catarrhal Stage: It is the first stage of this disease. It usually lasts for around 1 to 2 weeks. The major symptoms of the disease that can be noticed during this stage are running nose, nasal congestion, sneezing and occasional coughs.

Paroxysmal Stage: It is the second stage of the disease. It usually lasts for around 1 to 6 weeks but sometimes this stage can go on for around 10 weeks as well. Intense cough, vomiting (not being able to retain liquids in the body), pale blue coloration of the skin (mainly due to difficulty in breathing) are some symptoms of the second stage of whooping cough.

Convalescent Stage: It is the third stage of the disease, a phase wherein the patient slowly returns to normal health. This stage may take weeks or months, and is often characterized by chronic cough.

Whopping cough can be treated by antibiotics. If taken in the first stage these antibiotics shorten the span of the illness. If the treatment for whopping cough is not started within 24 hours then there are high chances of fatality.

Immunization against pertussis can be done through vaccines. DTaP and Tdap are 2 vaccines available for protection against pertussis. DTaP dose consists of 5 injections, given within a period of 2 months to 6 years of the child's age, while Tdap is a Booster dose which can be given to individuals in age group of 10 to 64 years. But most often the Tdap dose is recommended for adolescents between the age group of 11 to 12 years.

Although many health organizations are working to eradicate this disease throughout the world, pertussis always seem to recur. The cases of whooping cough in the United States decreased from 175,000 cases per year to less than 3000 cases per year after the introduction of pertussis vaccine in the 1980's. But this disease resurfaced when 25,827 cases were reported in 2004 in the United States. Sixty per cent cases of whooping cough are reported from the Third World countries. Canada is the only developed country where this disease is an epidemic.

Everyone needs to make sure that they are safe from the clutches of this harmful disease, and what is the better way to do so other than immunization? Prevention is the most suitable method to eradicate the disease.