Whooping cough
note_alt Sign up for vaccinations

Whooping cough

  • Age:
    • Vaccination of children at 2, 4, 6 and 18 months.

Description of the disease

Whooping cough is a bacterial infection that can lead to apnea (temporary cessation of breathing) in an infant, spasm of the larynx, pneumonia (inflammation of the lungs), respiratory arrest, impaired cerebral circulation, rupture of the eardrum and diaphragm. It is characterized by spasmodic attacks of coughing, more often at night, with sharp deep whistling breaths - reprises.

  • Treatment

    Whooping cough is treated on an outpatient basis or in a hospital. Fresh, humidified air and the reduction of various external irritants that affect the organs of hearing, vision, and tactile sensations significantly ease coughing attacks. Medicinal treatment of whooping cough: antihistamines with a sedative effect; anxiolytics; antibacterial drugs. In case of a severe course of the disease with pronounced oxygen starvation, oxygen therapy is prescribed.

  • Prevention

    Whooping cough can be prevented thanks to vaccination. According to the national vaccination calendar, it is necessary to vaccinate children for the prevention of whooping cough at the age of 2, 4, 6 and 18 months (four vaccinations for children ).

  • Symptoms

    The first signs of whooping cough are moderate fever, runny nose, cough, which usually turns into a convulsive cough. In infants, this may be accompanied by periods of temporary cessation of breathing movements (apnea). Pneumonia is a relatively common complication of whooping cough, convulsions and brain damage (encephalopathy) occur less often. Symptoms usually appear 7-10 days after infection.

  • Diagnostics

    Laboratory diagnostics includes:

    • General blood test
    • Biochemical analysis of blood
    • Bacteriological research
    • Direct immunofluorescence reaction
    • PCR diagnostics
    Serological studies (agglutination reaction, complement binding reaction, indirect hemagglutination reaction). Blood, sputum, mucus from the nasopharyngeal mucosa serve as biological material for research. If necessary, the doctor can prescribe an x-ray of the lungs and a computer tomography. Differential diagnosis of whooping cough is carried out with inflammatory diseases of the respiratory system, the presence of foreign bodies in the upper respiratory tract, etc.