Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes

Whooping cough on the rise again

(Medical Xpress)—Whooping cough (Pertussis) is a highly contagious disease caused by the bacterium Bordetella pertussis and characterized by attacks of severe coughing, often (but not always) with a characteristic high-pitched ...

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes

Whooping cough bacterium evolves in Australia

The bacterium that causes whooping cough, Bordetella pertussis, has changed in Australia - most likely in response to the vaccine used to prevent the disease - with a possible reduced effectiveness of the vaccine as a result, ...

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes

Why whooping cough is making a comeback

After a week with a dry cough, 16-year-old Ian McCracken started experiencing middle-of-the-night coughing fits so severe, he couldn't talk. He returned home from his first trip to the urgent care clinic in mid-July with ...

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes

Whooping cough vaccine: The power of first impressions

The current whooping cough vaccine was universally adopted in the US in 1996 to replace the original vaccine based on killed Bordetella pertussis because of a stronger safety profile. The new formulation was found to be effective ...

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes

Whooping cough more widespread than previously known

New research from Public Health Ontario (PHO) and the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES) suggests that whooping cough cases in Ontario are happening much more frequently than previously known, reinforcing the ...

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Pertussis, also known as whooping cough ( /ˈhuːpɪŋ kɒf/ or /ˈhwuːpɪŋ kɒf/), is a highly contagious bacterial disease caused by Bordetella pertussis. In some countries, this disease is called the 100 days' cough or cough of 100 days.

Symptoms are initially mild, and then develop into severe coughing fits, which produce the namesake high-pitched "whoop" sound in infected babies and children when they inhale air after coughing. The coughing stage lasts for approximately six weeks before subsiding.

Prevention via vaccination is of primary importance as treatment is of little clinical benefit to the person infected. Antibiotics, however, do decrease the duration of infectiousness and are thus recommended. It is estimated that the disease currently affects 48.5 million people yearly, resulting in nearly 295,000 deaths.

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