What Is Whooping Cough? Causes, Symptoms, and Treatments to Know

Pertussis is a respiratory illness that affects your lungs and causes a notable cough. Its unique sounding and persistent cough has led todifferent namesover the years, including "whooping cough" and the "100-day cough." The common name came about because the coughing fits can be so bad that people gasp for air while making a "whooping" sound.

Whooping cough cases are on the rise, and the illness can be serious, especially for babies. Here's what you can do to keep yourself and your infant safe.

What is whooping cough, and what causes it?

Whooping cough is a contagious illness caused byBordetella pertussisbacteria. The bacteria enters your body through respiratory droplets from someone who is infected. This is the same way other respiratory illnesses, like theflu(influenza) andCOVID-19, enter your body.

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• Vaccines for children:Getting vaccinated against whooping cough can be lifesaving. Learn about othervaccines for children and adolescents.
• Preparing for your child's vaccine:From scheduling appointments to strategies for calming your kid, we've got you covered with tips to makegetting vaccinatedas easy and painless as possible.
• What can your cough tell you?There are many differenttypes of coughs, and they can give you important clues about your health (and illness).

Once thebacteria enters your lungs, they attach to the lining of your lung and release toxins. This causes your airways to swell, making it hard for air to pass in and out, which makes breathing difficult.

Anyone can get whooping cough, but it's especially a problem for infants and children. A vaccine against whooping cough has helped lower the threat of this potentially life-threatening illness. But not everyone gets vaccinated, and outbreaks still occur (more on this below).

What are the symptoms of whooping cough?

It's probably not surprising that coughing is the most common symptom of whooping cough. But it's not the only symptom. In fact, whooping cough hasthree stages.

Early stage The early stage lasts a couple of weeks. During this time, whooping cough can be hard to distinguish from theflu or a common cold.

Symptoms include:

• Runny nose
• Slight cough
• Fever

In the early stage, babies can have moments of apnea - when they stop breathing and turn blue. Apnea is dangerous and requires immediate medical attention.

Paroxysmal stage During theparoxysmal stage, people have severe coughing fits (paroxysms) that can be debilitating and even dangerous. Coughing fits during this stage:

• Are worse at night
• Usually have the "whooping" sound
• Can last so long that people vomit or turn blue
• Are so strong that they can causepeople to break a ribor rupture a blood vessel from coughing
• Occur every hour, making it hard to sleep

This phase can last up to 10 weeks, which is how whooping cough got its nickname as the "100-day cough."

Recovery stage The recovery stage can last several weeks or even months. During this time, coughing fits happen less often and are less severe. But because the lungs are still weakened from the whooping cough infection, people can get otherrespiratory illnessesduring this stage. Having another illness can further weaken your lungs and make it harder to recover.

Is whooping cough contagious?

Yes, whooping cough isvery contagious. If you've been in close contact with someone who has whooping cough, there's an80% chanceyou'll get it too - unless you're fully vaccinated.

People with whooping cough are most contagious up to about2 weeksafter their cough starts. Adults with whooping cough might not realize they have a serious illness - and some don't have any symptoms. This can be dangerous because they can spread the illness to babies who are too young to be vaccinated. These very young infants are at the greatestrisk of serious illnessif they catch whooping cough.

Are there whooping cough outbreaks? Unlikepolio, whooping cough was never eradicated in the U.S. This means there are always some active cases of whooping cough, which puts everyone atrisk for outbreaks. There are regular outbreaks every few years, and these outbreaks are growing in size.

For example, before a vaccine became available in the 1940s, whooping cough was a deadly childhood illness - about200,000 childrenin the U.S. got whooping cough each year.

Once the vaccine became widely available, the number of cases dropped. From 1968 to 1992, there werefewer than 5,000cases of whooping cough in the U.S. each year. But cases have been going up since the mid-1990s. In 2012, a peak year, the U.S. had almost 50,000 cases. While numbers dropped during the COVID pandemic,cases are on the riseagain.

So, this is happening for many reasons, including:

• The effectiveness of the whooping cough vaccine fades over time, so booster doses are needed.
• Improved testing, tracking, and reporting methods for infectious diseases means more cases are getting reported.
• Vaccine fears andmisinformationthat spread during the COVID-19 pandemic have led to fewer people gettingthe vaccines they need.

Common whooping cough treatments

Whooping cough can be treated with antibiotics. There are also home remedies to help manage symptoms.

Antibiotics for whooping coughAntibioticsaren't helpful for all respiratory illnesses. They can help fight bacterial infections but are not effective against viral infections, like the flu. But whooping cough is caused by a bacteria, so early antibiotic treatment can help.

The most commonantibiotics for pertussisare:

• Azithromycin
• Clarithromycin
• Erythromycin
• Trimethoprim / sulfamethoxazole

Starting antibiotics during the early phase can:

• Make symptoms less severe, especially in infants
• Prevent someone from passing whooping cough to others
• Shorten the period when people are contagious (health experts recommend continuing to isolate5 daysafter starting antibiotic treatment)

By the time the coughing fits start during the paroxysmal phase, the toxins have already damaged the lining of your lungs, andantibioticswon't help symptoms. For this reason, healthcare professionals may not wait for test results and start antibiotics immediately if they think you could have whooping cough.

Home remedies for whooping cough Beyond antibiotic treatment, there are some things you can do at home to help with your symptoms andprevent spreadingthe illness:

• Minimize whooping cough triggers, like smoke and dust.
• Use a vaporizer to help loosen lung mucus and soothe coughing.
• Drink enough fluids to preventdehydration.
• Eat smaller but more frequent meals to decrease the risk of vomiting during coughing fits.
• Keep surfaces around your home clean and wash your hands often to prevent spreading the infection.

Who gets whooping cough?

Anyone can get whooping cough. But young children are muchmore likelyto get it than adults:

• Infants younger than 1 year old are 30 times more likely than adults to get whooping cough.
• Children and young adults between the ages of 1 and 20 are 8 times more likely than adults to get whooping cough.

Children - especially infantsless than 1 year old- are also more likely to get seriously sick. Very young newborns are at the highest risk of life-threatening complications. Most babies under 6 months of age need to behospitalizedif they get whooping cough. Babies can have serious complications from whooping cough, includingpneumonia, dehydration, and seizures.

How can you prevent getting sick from whooping cough?

Getting the pertussis vaccine is the best way to prevent getting sick from whooping cough. All pertussis vaccines also include protection against tetanus and diphtheria. There are two maintypes of pertussis vaccines:

• DTaP:Babies and children getDTaPin a series of five shots.
• Tdap:TheTdap vaccineis for older children and adults. The CDC recommends that teens and adults get a Tdap boosterevery 10 years. There are two FDA-approved Tdap vaccines to choose from -Adacel and Boostrix.

How effective are whooping cough vaccines? Pertussis vaccines are safe and effective. People who get vaccinated aremuch less likely to get sick. But the protection isn't perfect, and it fades over time. Even so, vaccination not only lowers your chance of getting infected, it also reduces the risk of serious illness if you do get sick.

Should you get vaccinated while pregnant? Yes, healthcare experts recommend getting vaccinated against whooping coughbetween 27 and 36 weeksof pregnancy. This allows time for your body to make protective antibodies that you can pass along to your growing baby. These antibodies help protect your baby until they can get their own vaccine at 2 months old.

Plus, getting vaccinated during pregnancy will make you less likely to get whooping cough yourself. And that means you're less likely to pass whooping cough to your baby. A Tdap vaccine isrecommended for each pregnancy- regardless of how many times you've received the vaccine.

Other adultswho will spend time around your newborn should consider getting a whooping cough vaccine too.

Frequently asked questions

Will whooping cough go away on its own?expand_more Whooping cough can go away on its own, and some people have very mild or no symptoms. But remember, whooping cough is very contagious, and you can spread the infection even if you don't have symptoms. Early treatment may help shorten your illness and the time that you're infectious.

What can be mistaken for whooping cough?expand_more

How long does it take lungs to heal after a whooping cough?expand_more

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" data-qa="ContentCalloutH2Title" The bottom line

Whooping cough is a contagious illness that affects your lungs and can last for months, even with treatment. While its symptoms can be debilitating and disruptive for adults, the illness can be fatal for babies. Early antibiotic treatment can help with symptoms, but the best way to protect against whooping cough is by getting vaccinated.

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