United States: The health agency has noted that the rate of whooping cough infection has increased more than six times compared to last year.
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All local authorities reported 553 cases to the week ended December 7, which was the latest date of data available, compared to 105 cases in the same time period last year.
Whooping cough is another type of an infectious disease which also causes cough and at times lead to breathing difficulties.
Sometimes referred to as pertussis or the “100-day cough”, this causes serious illnesses and can even be fatal.
Who is most vulnerable?
Children, especially infants who exhibit less severe signs, are the most vulnerable to whooping cough.
This is still important, however, as a vaccine given to all pregnant women and babies will provide good protection against the disease in infancy.
It is useful to have an idea of the disease to comprehend how it has an influence over the patients of different age, and a different risk impacts a person at different periods of life. Pertussis starts as a cold, but progresses to a more dangerous stage one to two weeks after infection.
How to stop it from spreading
They also noted that while antibiotics may lessen sickness, they can only do so in the first two weeks of the disease.
Proper washing of hands, coughing on the elbow, and observing other simple preventive measures also prevent whooping cough.
The best prevention is immunization, which delays the spread of the disease and/or reduces the severity of signs.
Whooping cough may be mistaken for a cold, and the most vulnerable group is the infants who are one year old and below.
For some babies, it mimics a cold for the whole period of the sickness. However, in some people, the symptoms will escalate to the next level.
The fine differentiation that can be made between children and adults can hardly be achieved for babies; a baby cannot have the typical coughing characteristics in the same way as an older child.
But they may suffer from apnea — cessation of breathing, which is dangerous and sometimes fatal.
Moreover, babies could also develop pneumonia, causing pain in chest, which does get worst on breathing or coughing.