Hooping cough, whooping, cough, Remedy Home

Hooping cough

Hooping cough, or whooping cough, is a serious infection of the respiratory system caused by Bordetella pertussis bacteria. People become infected with B. pertussis by inhaling contaminated droplets of an infected person's cough or sneeze.

Before a vaccine was available, hooping cough killed 5,000 to 10,000 people in the United States each year. Now, the whooping cough vaccine has reduced the annual number of deaths to less than 20. Currently, about 50% of all whooping cough infections occur in children less than 1 year old, and only 15% occur in children over 15 years old.

Hooping cough symptoms

The first symptoms of hooping cough are similar to those of a common cold, with a runny nose, dry cough and mild fever. After about 1 to 2 weeks, coughing begins to occur in spells that may last for over a minute. Between coughing spells, the child may gasp for air with a characteristic "whooping" sound - although infants may not "whoop" as do older children. Severe coughing spells can cause a child to turn blue in the face or vomit. Infants may actually stop breathing for a few seconds. Although the severe spells usually improve in about a week, coughing can continue for several weeks.

Because adults and adolescents with hooping cough may have milder symptoms, their hooping cough infection may be more likely to be misdiagnosed.

Hooping cough duration

Hooping cough can cause prolonged symptoms. There are usually one to two weeks of common cold symptoms, followed by two to four weeks of severe coughing, followed by three to four weeks of a convalescent period when coughing is less severe.

Hooping cough self diagnosis

Note: This self diagnosis is not a replacement for a doctors appointment, if you think you or your child has hooping cough you should always seek medical advice.

Question 1
Are you aged between 0 and 120 years?

Question 2
Have you had attacks of coughing lasting at least a minute for at least 3 weeks, that come without warning, make you cough and cough and cough until you feel as if you are choking and unable to get a breath, making you red in the face, nauseous, and frightening anyone who observes you?

Question 3
Do you go for hours or more feeling fine without any cough at all?

Question 4
Have you ever had a cough like this before?

If you answered yes to question 1,2 and 3 and answered no to question 4 then there is a high probability that you have hooping cough and should seek medical advice.

Home

Bookmark us!