Pertussis

What is Pertussis?


 Pertussis, or whooping cough, is caused by a bacterial infection. The disease occurs in three stages. The first stage appears similar to the common cold, with runny nose, low grade fever and a cough. After 1-2 weeks, the second stage begins, where the cough worsens, may be accompanied by coughing spells or "fits" and the cough may be followed by a large intake of air, or a "whoop" noise. Infants can be severely affected, and may turn blue during coughing spells due to lack of oxygen. This second stage can last up to two months. During the final stage, which can also last weeks or months, coughing spells will gradually decrease in frequency and intensity. Pertussis used to be called the "100-day cough" because of how long the cough lasted.

 There is a vaccine to prevent pertussis - DTaP for young children and Tdap for adolescents and adults. DTaP vaccine is usually given at 2, 4 and 6 months of age, with a booster at 15-18 months of age and at 4-5 years of age. Immunity can decrease over time, and a booster is recommended again at 11-12 years of age.
Young infants under 6 months of age, especially if they have not received all three doses of DTaP, are particularly vulnerable to severe infection and are at higher risk of needing hospitalization if they contract pertussis. 


 Approximately 15-20 babies die in the United States every year from pertussis. Almost all are younger than 4 months of age - too early to have been fully protected by the DTaP vaccine. Because young babies get sick from pertussis and because they are not fully protected until they have had several doses of the vaccine, healthcare providers recommend that older children and adults who will be around newborns be protected; this is known as cocooning. Mothers should request the Tdap vaccine between 27-36 weeks of gestational age during each pregnancy, or before leaving the hospital if they did not receive Tdap during pregnancy.