Whooping Cough: An Infectious Disease

Some of the people think that whooping cough as having gone the way of polio, a childhood disease eradicated thanks to a vaccination campaign. But whooping cough hasn't been whipped out. In fact, the number of the reported cases in the United States has been increasing since a historic low of approximately 1,000 cases in 1976. In 2004, more than 25,000 cases were reported, the largest number since the 1950's, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. Whooping cough is thought to be on the rise for two main reasons. The whooping cough vaccine you receive as a child eventually wears off, leaving most teenagers and the adult's susceptible to the infection during an outbreaks. In addition, children aren't fully immune to whooping cough until they have received at least three shots, leaning those 6 months and younger at a greater those 6 months and younger at a greater risk of contracting the infection.

Once you become infected with the bacterium that causes whooping cough, it takes a few days to a few weeks for signs and symptoms to appear. When they do, they're usually mild at fist and then it resembles those of a common cold, such as:

1. A runny nose

2. Nasal congestion

3. Sneezing

4. Red, and watery eyes

5. A mild fever

6. Dry cough

7. General feeling of being unwell and loss of appetite

Then after a week or around two weeks, signs and symptoms become worse and usually include:

1. Severe coughing attacks that bring up phlegm.

2. Coughing attacks - up to 15 coughs in a row, that will end in a high pitched whoop sound as you gasp for air. These may be so severe that your child vomits or turns red or even blue from the effort.

3. Fatigue from coughing so much in the adults, those signs and symptoms of whooping cough may resemble those of bronchitis, a respiratory infection that causes a mugging cough, you may have heard it referred to as the "100- day cough." Babies and infants with whooping cough may not whoop at all, or at least not as loudly as older children do.