Recently, a whooping cough outbreak has occurred in California. With 910 cases and 5 infant deaths, the disease was immediately declared an epidemic by the state health officials. But what is exactly a whooping cough?

Whooping cough is otherwise known as pertussis. It is a highly contagious disease of the respiratory system caused by the bacterium Bordetella pertussis. The name whooping comes from the noise the affected person makes when taking a breath after a cough.

So, who is most at risk? It’s the unimmunized or incompletely immunized infants. Although, anyone can get affected it is particularly serious and can be fatal to the babies and small children.

The sudden rise in the occurrence of whooping cough may be brought about by parents who refuse to vaccinate their kids. They believe that vaccination can cause other ailments like autism. However, it has been indicated that the use of pertussis vaccine has reduced the annual deaths significantly. Parents who opt not to subject their children for vaccination are taking a big risk.

Nevertheless, spotting the symptoms of whooping cough can be very helpful for early diagnosis and treatment. Often the disease starts similar to a common cold with symptoms like runny nose, sneezing, mild coughing and slight fever. After two weeks, it then progresses to uncontrollable fits of coughing with the distinct whooping sound as the patients struggles to breathe. It may be accompanied by vomiting. Further complications of this disease can lead to pneumonia, earache, seizures and even brain damage.

With infants, one should be very critical with the symptoms as they do not exhibit the characteristic whooping sound. They appear gasping for air with their reddened faces. During bad coughing spells, the babies can even stop breathing.

Whooping cough is a serious condition so if you suspect your child to have one then better consult your physician immediately.