Pertussis, also known as whooping cough, a highly contagious
disease caused by the
bacterium Bordetella pertussis; it derived its name from a characteristic severe hacking cough followed by a high-pitched intake of breath that sounds like "whoop"; a similar, milder disease is caused by
B. parapertussis. Worldwide, there are 30–50 million pertussis cases and about 300,000 deaths per year. Despite generally high coverage with the DTP and
DTaP vaccines, pertussis is one of the leading causes of
vaccine-preventable deaths world-wide. Most deaths occur in young infants who are either unvaccinated or incompletely vaccinated; three doses of the vaccine are necessary for complete protection against pertussis. Ninety percent of all cases occur in the developing world. However, in the winter of 2006, a
New York school district
[1] suffered a large pertussis outbreak with thirteen plus students falling victim to the infection.
[2] Also in the fall of 2006, a pertussis outbreak struck New Trier High School, a public school in
Winnetka,
Illinois, with twenty-four high school students catching the disease. In response, the Cook County Department of Public Health provided vaccine, free of charge, to eligible students.
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Also known as pertussis, this is a feared infectious disease that can strike the respiratory system and affect other organs of the body. It has three stages—an initial stage with watery runny nose and eyes, a progressive cough stage with characteristic (sometimes severe) coughing spells, and (if the dhild survives) a recovery stage. The disease may last for 2-6 weeks. Therapy is supportive and many young infants need hospitalization if the coughing becomes severe. Immunization with DPT (diphtheria-pertussis-tetanus) vaccine provides protection. With pertussis, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure (or, if you are metrically inclined, a gram of prevention is worth a kilo of cure). Have your child immunized!
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