My 33 year old daughter heard a commercial, whilst in her car, which described a childs whooping cough condition.
Hacking cough/Heaving,vomitting/ cannot catch breath.
Exactly the same symptoms my daughter has had, since having a cold a month ago. She has never heaved, with a cough before and it completely took her breath away.
Although today it seems to have wained itself out, we are wondering whether adults CAN get whooping cough, or whether it is just a childhood disease. Whooping cough (pertussis) is a highly contagious bacterial infection of the upper respiratory system鈥攕pecifically, the area where the nasal passages meet the back of the throat (nasopharynx). The infection causes irritation in breathing passages, resulting in severe coughing spells. The illness has three distinct stages and can last months.
Whooping cough is caused by infection with Bordetella pertussis or B. parapertussis bacteria. The infection easily spreads from person to person through respiratory secretions or mucus, which can be emitted during coughing or sneezing. The incubation period is about 7 to 14 days, meaning that symptoms develop about 1 to 2 weeks after exposure to the bacteria.
You can get whooping cough more than once. After being immunized or after recovering from whooping cough infection, you are temporarily protected from getting a severe form of the disease again. But this protection does not last. You can get another whooping cough infection years later. You can reduce the risk of infection by getting regular booster shots with the pertussis vaccine.
Symptoms of whooping cough typically last 6 to 10 weeks (but may last longer) and occur in three stages.
Stage 1: Coldlike symptoms, such as sneezing, runny nose, mild coughing, watery eyes, and sometimes a mild fever, last from several days to 2 weeks. An infected person is most contagious during this stage.
Stage 2: Coldlike symptoms fade, but the cough gets worse, changing from a dry, hacking cough to bursts of uncontrollable, often violent coughing. During a coughing episode, it may be temporarily impossible to take a breath because of the intensity and repetition of coughs. When finally able to breathe, the person may take in a sudden gasp of air through airways narrowed by inflammation, and this sometimes causes a whooping noise. Vomiting and severe exhaustion often follow a coughing spell. But between coughing episodes, the infected person often appears normal. This is the most serious stage of whooping cough, usually lasting from 2 to 4 weeks or longer.
Stage 3: Although the person improves and gains strength, the cough may become louder and sound worse. Coughing spells may occur sporadically for weeks to months and may flare up if a cold or other upper respiratory illness develops. This final stage may last longer in people who have never received the whooping cough vaccine.
The severity of symptoms is, in part, influenced by whether a person was immunized against whooping cough and how long ago the immunization was given. The protection against whooping cough provided by the vaccine wears off over time.
A person with whooping cough may appear normal between coughing episodes, which often delays a diagnosis or makes it more difficult. But a health professional may suspect whooping cough during an exam when symptoms are present and recent cases have been reported in the community. Sometimes other coughing illnesses, such as the common cold or bronchitis, have specific symptoms that can distinguish them from whooping cough, such as a high fever, a sore throat, or wheezing.
To confirm the diagnosis, the health professional will collect mucus from the nasopharynx and have it tested for specific types of bacteria that cause whooping cough. Lab results usually are not available for 10 to 14 days. If whooping cough is suspected, treatment will be started before the lab results are available.
Sometimes, blood tests or X-rays may be done to rule out other diseases or conditions. A pulse oximeter may be used to check blood oxygen levels and to help guide treatment.
Whooping cough is treated with antibiotics, primarily to help reduce the spread of infection. If given during the very early stage of the illness, antibiotics may help shorten the illness. Home treatment measures, such as a cool-air humidifier, can also be used to help reduce the discomfort of symptoms. Yes they definitely can. Yes they can!!! Whooping cough (pertussis) is an infectious disease spread by droplets.
Adults can, and do, get pertussis. In the adult population pertussis causes a nagging cough without fever for about a month. The reason that adults can get this despite being vaccinated when they were children, is that over time vaccine-mediated immunity to infectious disease fades away. The problem is that we just don't know how long the vaccine-mediated immunity lasts.
The latest recommendation is for adults to get a booster shot for pertussis, this is especially important if the adults have contact with babies and small children, because pertussis can cause life threatening infections in these patients. I just googles it and yes they can, and apparently it is on the risein teens and adults. they not only can get it, they have been getting it in increasing numbers, so that the cdc is recommending that all adults get the pertussis vaccine again, usually with a tetanus shot. It's called the TDAP vaccine. I had a tetnus shot that was a made with a whooping cough immunization in it.
Interesting combo these pharmaceutical companies are doing. |
