Make sure your young child and those around him or her are immunized
Parents and family members can pass whooping cough to their babies unknowingly
If your infant child shows signs of whooping cough, see your pediatrician immediately
Prevention
The best way to prevent whooping cough among infants, children, teens and adults is to get vaccinated. Also, keep infants and other people at high risk for whooping cough complications away from infected people.
In the United States, the recommended whooping cough vaccine for infants and children is called DTaP. This is a combination vaccine that protects against three diseases: diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (whooping cough). Vaccine protection for these three diseases fades with time, so it important that preteens, teens and adults receive a booster (called Tdap) that contains protection against tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis. Receiving the vaccine is quick, easy and relatively painless.
The easiest thing for adults to do is to get vaccinated with Tdap at least two weeks before coming into close contact with an infant. This is especially important for families with—and caregivers of—newborns, including grandparents, neighbors, sitters and older siblings.
Complications
Whooping cough can cause serious and sometimes life-threatening complications in infants and young children, especially those who are not fully vaccinated.
In infants younger than 1 year of age who get whooping cough, more than half (57%) must be hospitalized. The younger the infant, the more likely treatment in the hospital will be needed. Of those infants who are hospitalized with whooping cough, about:
- 1 in 4 (23%) get pneumonia (lung infection)
- 1 or 2 in 100 (1.6%) will have convulsions (violent, uncontrolled shaking)
- Two thirds (67%) will have apnea (slowed or stopped breathing)
- 1 in 300 (0.4%) will have encephalopathy (disease of the brain)
- 1 or 2 in 100 (1.6%) will die
Teens and adults can also get complications from whooping cough. They are usually less serious in this older age group, especially in those who have been vaccinated with a whooping cough vaccine. Complications in teens and adults are often caused by the cough itself. For example, people may pass out or fracture a rib during violent coughing fits. In one study, less than 5% of teens and adults with whooping cough were hospitalized. Pneumonia (lung infection) was diagnosed in 2% of those patients. The most common complications in another study of adults with whooping cough were:
- Weight loss (33%)
- Loss of bladder control (28%)
- Passing out (6%)
- Rib fractures from severe coughing (4%)
Signs and Symptoms
Whooping cough is known for uncontrollable, violent coughing that often makes it hard to breathe. After fits of many coughs, someone with whooping cough may need to take deep breaths that result in a characteristic "whooping" sound. The "whoop" is often not there, however, and the infection is generally milder (less severe) in teens and adults.
Whooping cough can cause serious illness. The disease usually starts with cold-like symptoms and maybe a mild cough or fever. After 1 to 2 weeks, severe coughing can begin. Unlike the common cold, whooping cough can become a series of coughing fits that continues for many weeks.
In infants, the cough can be minimal or not even there, but they may have a symptom known as “apnea.” Apnea is a pause in the child’s breathing pattern. Whooping cough is most dangerous for babies; more than half of infants younger than 1 year of age who get the disease must be hospitalized, and it can be fatal.
Early symptoms can last for 1 to 2 weeks and usually include:
- Runny nose
- Low-grade fever (generally minimal throughout the course of the disease)
- Mild, occasional cough
- Apnea (a pause in breathing) in infants
Because whooping cough in its early stages appears to be nothing more than the common cold, it is often not suspected or diagnosed until the more severe symptoms appear. Infected people are most contagious up to about 2 weeks after the cough begins. Antibiotics may shorten the amount of time someone is contagious.
As the disease progresses, the traditional symptoms of whooping cough appear and include:
- Fits of many, rapid coughs followed by a high-pitched “whoop”
- Vomiting
- Exhaustion after coughing fits
The coughing fits can go on for up to 10 weeks or more. In China, whooping cough is known as the “100 day cough.” Although people with whooping cough are often exhausted after a coughing fit, they 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 and the typical “whoop” absent in people who have been vaccinated with a whooping cough vaccine.
