A Hundred Days of Coughing: Knowing the Whooping Cough before It Catches Your Baby

A whooping cough is caused by a bacterial infection called Bordetella. It causes the upper respiratory tract infection in people without autoimmune. The disease is easy to spread. It’s common for children between 2-6 years old. However, after the invention of whooping cough vaccination, the patients decrease dramatically.

Symptoms of a whooping cough

• Cold phase: The symptoms are mainly coughing. A cough is continuous for 5-10 consecutive times, then stop and start again.
• Severe chronic phase: If not treated initially, it leads to the chronic phase which can take 1-3 months. Hence the name "Coughing a hundred days disease."

If treated promptly and receive antimicrobial treatment within 1-2 days after the symptoms shows, the illness will improve and can reduce the spreading.

The characteristic of whooping cough spreading

The spreading method is like that of a cold or influenza. The patient will be infected through with mucus, sputum, and saliva. It’s easy to contact from coughing and sneezing to the others. The whooping cough symptoms in infants and young children are more severe than in older children and adults. It may cause death.

How to care for and prevent a whooping cough

• Avoid taking small children to a crowded place.
• Wash your hands with soap and water often to reduce the disease.
• Vaccination in small children will be in the form of the mixed vaccine including the vaccines for diphtheria and tetanus. The vaccine is given at the age of 2 months, 4 months, 6 months, and 18 months and will be repeated at the age of 4-6 years.