Causes
Whooping cough is caused by Bordetella pertussis, a kind of bacteria. It’s passed on through close personal contact, sneezing and coughing.
Symptoms
At first, your child might show the symptoms of a heavy cold, such as watery eyes, a runny nose, sneezing and mild fever, for around a week. The cough then develops gradually, starting at night, but becoming worse in the daytime. The bouts of coughing worsen over the following two weeks, increasing both in severity and frequency.
The coughing bouts are usually exhausting for your child. She’ll make a ‘barking’ sound several times as she breathes out, then might make the characteristic ‘whooping’ sound as she gasps for a deep breath. Her face might turn red and she might vomit at the end of a coughing bout. In between coughing episodes, your child is usually comfortable.
The incubation period of whooping cough is between 1-2 weeks. Your child can then remain infectious for up to 21 days following the onset of the cough. The cough itself might be present for months.
Pneumonia and middle ear infections are the most common complications of whooping cough – both need treatment with antibiotics. Forceful coughing can also sometimes lead to small nosebleeds or haemorrhages inside the eye.
If there’s significant loss of appetite and persistent vomiting with the coughing bouts, there’s a risk of your child losing weight and becoming dehydrated.
Babies under six months old might have apnoeas (pauses in breathing) rather than a cough – take your baby to the doctor immediately if this is the case.
When to see your doctor
You should see a doctor ifyour child:
- has any of the symptoms described in the above section
- has a cough that lasts for more than three to four days
- has a prolonged fever as well as a cough
- has a cough and also complains of a sore ear
- already has whooping cough and is losing weight or looks dehydrated.
Treatment
There’s no specific treatment for whooping cough.
If the cough is severe and causes breathing difficulties, or if your child is less than six months old, your doctor might recommend a hospital stay for close nursing care. If the disease is severe enough for hospital admission, your child will be given antibiotics.
At home, keep your child in a warm room – a humidifier might help loosen the cough (but be sure to keep the humidifier in a safe place, out of reach of small hands). Make sure your child is getting plenty of fluids, and offer frequent, easily digestible, small meals. Try to keep your child as quiet as possible, to lessen the chances of triggering a coughing spell.
While your child is coughing, make sure you sit him up in case he vomits – this stops him from inhaling any vomit into his lungs. The bouts can be worrying for both you and your child, so it can help to stay near him or hold him on your lap while he’s coughing, to calm and reassure him.
Other people in the house – especially children under one – might be prescribed antibiotics to stop them catching whooping cough.
If the cough has lasted less than 14 days, your doctor might consider prescribing antibiotics because it will reduce the length of time your child will be infectious. This will allow him to return to school or child care earlier, after five days of antibiotics.
If your child hasn’t been treated with antibiotics, he shouldn’t return to school or child care for 21 days after the cough began.
Prevention
Immunisation against whooping cough is normally effective in preventing the disease, and has also dramatically reduced its severity. Routine immunisation against whooping cough is given to children at two, four and six months, four years old, and in Year 10 of high school. While whooping cough can occur in immunised children, the disease is then generally less severe.
Immunity against whooping cough fades with time. Adults who are in contact with children younger than six months should have a booster shot to prevent getting the infection and passing it on (at that age, babies haven’t completed the immunisation schedule, so are still vulnerable to infection).
