Whooping cough is associated primarily with childhood disease. However, it should be remembered that in Poland more than half of the cases of the disease concern people over 15 years of age. Unimmunized (or unvaccinated) infants and seniors are particularly vulnerable to complications. How to recognize the disease? How to avoid infection?

What is whooping cough?

Whooping cough or whooping cough is one of the acute infectious diseases of the respiratory tract. The cause of the infection is whooping cough bacteria – Bortedella pertussis. A single infection does not give immunity for life, which means that you can contract the disease even several times, regardless of age. The infection spreads through droplets (when sneezing and coughing) through direct contact with a sick person showing symptoms of whooping cough, as well as with oligosymptoms.

It is worth noting that whooping cough is very contagious, much more so than chicken pox. The risk of infection after contact with a sick person is over 80%. The course of the disease in adults is atypical, which makes quick and precise diagnostics difficult, and thus underestimates the official statistics of the disease.

And the problem is more serious than it may seem. Every fourth person in Poland suffering from whooping cough requires hospitalization. In 2019, 1 jobs were reported. 629 cases of whooping cough. In 2020, probably due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the reluctance to perform diagnostic tests, this number dropped to 743. The actual number of cases is much higher.

Whooping cough can be diagnosed by the characteristic clinical symptoms, if present. For diagnostic purposes, the doctor may also use laboratory methods (PCR, culture, serology). The choice of the diagnostic method depends on the phase of the disease, the patient’s age and the patient’s immune status.

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Whooping cough symptoms – what can be confused with?

The symptoms of whooping cough may initially resemble the common cold. In the first days after infection, the patient may experience severe body weakness, slight sore throat, cough, runny nose, and also show increased body temperature. At this stage, after reporting to the general practitioner, the patient most often receives a set of anti-inflammatory, analgesic and fever-reducing drugs. Unfortunately, after about two weeks after infection, the symptoms significantly worsen, and in addition, they may appear, among others:

  1. swelling
  2. facial cyanosis,
  3. coughing up thick, sticky secretions,
  4. watery eyes
  5. bursting blood vessels,
  6. nose bleeds
  7. conjunctival haemorrhages.

Whooping cough can be dangerous for people over the age of 60. As many as 40 percent. patients in this age group develop complications in the form of pneumonia, urinary incontinence, hernia and rib fractures. In addition, weight loss and sleep disturbances are not uncommon.

How to protect yourself from whooping cough?

The only effective method of prophylaxis is immunization. It is an indispensable element of caring for health in adulthood. In Poland, the first pertussis vaccines were introduced in the 50s. 30 years later, the preparations underwent additional purification, which increased their safety and reduced the risk of side effects.

In adults, protective vaccinations are administered as 1 dose, which is recommended to be repeated every 10 years (as a booster dose). The most common side effects are pain and redness at the injection site.

Read also:

  1. Five diseases that can be confused with COVID-19
  2. Why do some people get COVID-19 like the common cold even though they haven’t been vaccinated?
  3. What diseases can a runny nose herald? You cannot heal all of them yourself at home

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