Whooping cough - Another name for this type of cough is pertussis. It is caused by the bacterium called Bordetella pertussis and is an infection of the respiratory system. The main symptom is that the patient develops severe coughing spells. The cough ends in the characteristic "whooping" sound as the child breathes in. Before the development of a vaccine, whooping cough killed between 5,000 to 10,000 people on a yearly basis in the United States alone. Now that a vaccine is available, the number of yearly deaths has been reduced to fewer than 30.

The first signs of whooping cough resemble the common cold. A patient develops these symptoms.

• o runny nose
• o mild cough
• o sneezing
• o low-grade fever

After about one to two weeks, the dry, hacking cough turns into coughing spells. During one of these spells, which can go on for over a minute, the child may turn purple or red. At the end of one of these spells, the child may make the characteristic "whooping" sound when breathing in or may even vomit. The child will usually feel well between spells.

Whooping cough is a highly contagious disease. The bacteria are spread through tiny drops of fluid from the infected person's mouth or nose. These droplets often become airborne when the person coughs, sneezes or laughs. During the earliest stages of the disease is when the person is most contagious up to approximately two weeks after the beginning of the cough. Antibiotics will usually shorten the contagious period to about five days following the beginning of the course of antibiotic treatment.

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