Whooping Cough

What is whooping cough?
Whooping cough is an infection ((caused by a bacterium, Bordetella pertussis) of the nose and throat and lungs which causes long bursts of coughing. In young children the coughing spell often ends in a ‘whooping’ noise when the child can finally take a breath in. Children can have several coughing spells each hour, including while they are sleeping. They can also go on having coughing spells for many weeks (up to about three months for some). Older children and adults can have whooping cough without the ‘whooping’ sound. Immunisation against whooping cough can be very effective in protecting children.

How does it spread?

The infection spreads by droplets that are coughed or sneezed out. These droplets can be breathed in or they can be carried to the nose by hands which come in contact with the droplets (e.g. through handling used

tissues or by touching surfaces which have the droplets on them). Whooping cough is very easy to catch. 70% to 100% of people living in the same house as someone with whooping cough will get the infection unless they have been immunised.

Who is most at risk?

Any one who is not protected (by recent immunisation or by having had the infection before) can get whooping cough, including older children and adults. More than 60% of people who get the infection in Australia are over ten years of age. Adults and children over ten can get the infection even when they have been immunised as a baby. Babies are at most risk of having severe health problems from whooping cough. About one in 200 babies who get whooping cough before they are six months old will die from the infection. How long does it take to develop? A child or adult who catches whooping coughwill usually start to be unwell about seven to ten days after being exposed to the infection.

Signs and symptoms of whooping cough

The illness usually starts like a ‘cold’ with runny nose and a cough which is not like the spells of coughing later in the illness. After several days the long spells of coughing start, causing difficulty breathing during the spells. The child will have many quick coughs in one spell. There can be several spells of coughing each hour (with an average of 25 coughing spells per day). Young children often have a whoop after the coughing spell (when they can finally breathe in). They might vomit any food or drink that they have recently swallowed, during the cough or soon afterwards. Very young babies may not cough, but they may just stop breathing for a minute or longer many times per day. If they cough there might not be the whoop.

Adults and older children may not whoop, but they will have coughing spells and they may feel tired (the coughing can interfere with sleeping), and generally unwell. It can be many weeks before it is recognised that the older child or adult has whooping cough. Finally, after several weeks or more, the coughing spells start happening less often and they stop happening about two to three weeks later. If the person gets a cold soon after having whooping cough, the coughing can start again for a while (much shorter than the original illness).

What can you do?

It is important to check often that the child is eating and drinking enough. It seems that feeding a young child immediately after a coughing spell may mean the food and drink stays down. Feeding seems to trigger a coughing spell if the child has not coughed recently, but soon after a coughing spell, food and drink usually does not trigger another coughing spell. Children who are coughing often will be tired and uncomfortable (coughing can cause tummy pain from overused muscles). Some paracetamol or ibuprofen may help with aching muscles. The topic ‘Feeling sick’ has more ideas and Immunisation of babies against whooping cough protects most children. (source www.health.wa.gov.au)