Symptoms Of Whooping Cough

Whooping cough, also known as pertussis, is a severe lung and respiratory infection spread by the pertussis bacteria. Due to their small airways, it is especially dangerous for babies and small children. It can be treated in the hospital with antibiotics, but the best treatment is to have the vaccine at the recommended time to prevent infection.

Each year the Center for Disease Control estimates since 2010, there have been anywhere from fifteen to fifty thousand cases of whooping cough in the United States. It's time to discuss the various symptoms of whooping cough including the best-known, a whoop! sound following coughs. Understanding these symptoms can work wonders when it comes to treatment.

Common Cold Symptoms

Whooping cough usually starts off just like the common cold. These symptoms usually begin about one or two weeks after being exposed to the pertussis bacteria. You might find your child has a stuffy or a runny nose, and think they are just coming down with a cold. There may be some other common cold symptoms, such as coughing and apnea, or a low-grade fever. The symptoms will last for about a couple of weeks, and the coughing usually isn't very severe at this stage, no worse than what you might expect of a cold.

As soon as someone starts to show cold-like symptoms, they can pass the whooping cough disease onto others. The disease spreads through airborne contact as the bacteria is exhaled on a cough and other individuals become exposed. If you take antibiotics, you will stop being infectious even sooner, in as little as five days.

Vomiting

Another common issue with whooping cough is though it is a dry cough without mucus, a patient may vomit or severely gag after the coughing fit. If you notice gagging, gasping, or vomiting, then it may still be whooping cough, but the child is having a different reaction to their inability to breathe during the coughs. If you notice your infant or child doing so, tell your doctor so they can make sure they can deliver the right treatment.

However, this is more often a symptom of whooping cough in adults and older children than in babies and very young children. Adults and older children usually have less severe symptoms compared to younger whooping cough sufferers and are less likely to make a whooping noise after a fit. Vomit is more common because the airways are larger, but the severity of the coughing makes them sick. Dehydration is often a risk with whooping cough infections and vomiting will often make that worse. Make sure to contact a doctor if you or a child seem to be dehydrated and cannot take in enough liquids.

Extreme Fatigue

Whooping cough is known to cause extreme fatigue due to many factors. When the body, whether for babies or for adults, cannot get enough oxygen throughout its system, it is easily tired and worn down. The strain of sickness and continually coughing can also leave a person feeling exhausted. The extreme fatigue also comes from the body's immune reaction being stressed by the need to fight off the infection.

It is important for both adults and children to rest and follow all their doctor's instructions for self-care while they are sick, so they have the best chance of recovery. Many infants and small children will need to be hospitalized for whooping cough so they can have quick access to the right medicine and medical care. Without that, there can be even more severe complications arising from the whooping cough illness.

Red Or Blue Face

Severe coughing fits can cause a child to turn red or blue from lack of oxygen. This usually happens either during or immediately after the coughing noise and may or may not be accompanied by gagging or noises. This is because the blood vessels in the face no longer have enough oxygen and turn blue, or because the body is struggling to get enough blood and oxygen through the body. If this happens frequently, in some cases a doctor may recommend a breathing aid for the child so they can breathe safely and easily even through the whooping cough symptoms.

Like the fatigue, whooping noise, and gagging, a red or blue face is most often seen during the most severe phase of the whooping cough infection which starts about one or two weeks after the initial cold-like symptoms began. This second stage can last for one or two months even with antibiotics, and the recovery phase can take weeks or months.

Whooping Sound

Instead of getting better after a couple of weeks, a person with whooping cough will instead get worse. Coughing becomes much worse, and it will be more difficult to breathe during a coughing fit. Babies often suffer from apnea during their illness because the coughing cuts off their airways temporarily and they cannot breathe.

Loss of breath during a cough can get so bad the person or child has to take a massive gulp of air afterward to try and bring oxygen back into their body. This gasp is what makes the whooping sound that gives pertussis its name. This coughing sound may last for weeks and is often worse at night than during the day. In some cases, the cough can last for up to three months before it goes away completely, but a sick person is only contagious for the first twenty-one days. Yet not every person infected with whooping cough will make the classic whooping sound. It is more common if the person or child has not been vaccinated, for example, if the baby was too young to have been immunized.