Health Advice An answer to your medical questions » Whooping Cough

Whooping Cough Symptoms

Kevin — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 19:24:59 +0000

The symptoms and signs of whooping cough can be prolonged. At first for around a week or two the child will display the symptoms of a common cold. After that for a period of a couple of weeks to, say, a month the child will suffer from a prolonged bout of severe coughing.

In very special and rare cases, the symptoms of whooping cough may manifest in 3 weeks, so slow will be the development of symptoms. This is a highly contagious disease and it is easy for one individual to get infected from another individual who is suffering from whooping cough.

Early whooping cough symptoms
The early symptoms of whooping cough are characterized by tiredness, feelings of fatigue, tears, sore throat, sneezing, runny nose, night cough, mild cough, low grade fever, loss of appetite. At times there may or may not be mild fever during the early stages.

Later symptoms of whooping cough
After the early phase is over and around a week or two has passed, the irritating, dry cough will give way to prolonged bouts of coughing at a stretch. These coughing spells often extend over a minute or more and is characterized by the child taking on a deep purple or red color, brought on by the severe effort and exertion.

The child will feel better and be at peace in between two spells of violent coughing. When his violent fit of coughing ends, and the child breaths in air, it will be characterized by a whooping sound. At times the child may even vomit at the end of the spell.

The violent fits of coughing will be choking attacks and they may recur as many as 50 times daily or only twice daily.

Whooping cough is a disease affecting mainly children and kids. It can also affect adolescents or adults. Even if it strikes the latter group, the symptoms will be very mild or atypical, the spells won’t last as long or there won’t be spells at all. Nor will there be any whooping. But there will certainly be prolonged coughs.

Causes Whooping Cough

Kevin — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 19:24:31 +0000

This highly contagious disease that is caused by the bacterium bordetella pertussis affects the lungs, throat and nose and results in severe bursts or bouts of violent coughing, commonly seen in infants and children and also in adults nowadays.

When the violent fit of incessant coughing for a minute or more subsides and the individual draws in breath, there occurs a whooping sound.

Whooping cough was first reported way back in the 1500s. There are vaccines available which can immunize a child against this distressing disease.

I have already mentioned which bacterium causes this disease. Since the disease is contagious, the bacterium travels from one person to another through nasal discharge when the infected individual laughs, talks, coughs or sneezes. The bacteria at that time becomes airborne and spread to another person nearby. A person might get infected when an infected individual sheds very small droplets of fluid from the mouth or the nose.

When these droplets are inhaled in any way or if these droplets, after falling on the hands, are touched by the nose or mouth, another person will get infected.
Direct contact is therefore one of the main ways or causes of whooping cough spreading from one person to another.

It has often been observed that when there are adults in a house who suffer from whooping cough, the children in that house or infants often contract that infection from the adult, because they haven’t yet received vaccination or are under immunized.

Lack of immunization or vaccination is one of the main reasons why individuals contract whooping cough. Since a dry cough is often the only visible symptom or indication of whooping cough in an adult, it goes unnoticed and that is how the bacteria spreads from adults to children or other individuals.

When a number of children are staying together in hostel or dormitories in a boarding school or have gone out to a children’s summer camp, the infection from one student can spread to another through the methods described above.

Breastfed infants can catch this infection and a newborn babe can contract this RTI from its mother during birth. The mother had probably acquired it during labor.

Whooping Cough advice

Kevin — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 18:47:24 +0000

By whooping cough, we refer to an extremely contagious RTI, the main cause of which is usually a bacterium called Bordetella pertussis that spreads very easily through direct contact or by air through nasal discharge or discharge from the mouth.

It affects mainly children and kids, but is frequently attacking adults nowadays. This is a very common disease among children, especially in Canada.

When a child suffers from whooping cough, he/she will cough violently and incessantly in relentless fits and spasms which last over a minute and at the end of the coughing spell, the child will turn purple or red from effort, exhaustion and the exertion it involves.

He/she may even vomit at the end. After the fit subsides, when the child will draw in breath, there will be a whooping sound. This can last for 6 weeks to 12 weeks and that’s why it is called “100 day cough”.

Symptoms of whooping cough in children, kids and infants
The earliest symptoms of whooping cough is the same as those of common cold and include signs like tiredness, fatigue, tears, sore throat, runny nose, sneezing, night cough, mild fever which may not be present in certain cases, mild cough, low grade fever, loss of appetite. Later on, after a fortnight, the violent spells of coughing will resume.

Symptoms in adult cases
Although it was commonly believed that adults don’t get whooping cough, latest reports and medical research has conclusively proved that adult/adolescent whooping cough accounts for almost 50% of the cases nowadays.

Adults won’t display the classical or typical signs. Symptoms, in their cases, will be much milder and often the only indication will be a persistent dry cough, which makes it difficult to diagnose and it often goes unnoticed.

When should you call the doctor?
If your child has whooping cough and is displaying symptoms like convulsions or seizures, problems in breathing or breathlessness, persistent vomiting, high fever, dehydration along with a bluish tint in the skin, it is time to seek immediate medical assistance. Such a child may have to be hospitalized for he/she will require 24×7 monitoring and supportive care.