Whooping Cough!

Well after 6 weeks of back and forth to the doctors surgery WEEKLY, today I was finally told we have Whooping Cough. Kelly and I have taken it worst and Marcus has it milder. The main annoying thing is that we could of been treated WAY back when we 1st started going. Now however we are past the stage of the medicines being any help. What is more worrying is that I work in a primary school, Kelly goes to the Academy and Marcus to East end Primary! so that's THREE schools where the kids have now been exposed to it. I feel bad about that but its not like I did not seek advice early on. I also feel angry that we had, between us, 5 courses of Anti-Biotics and 2 inhalers for NO REASON! Anyways, hope now that in a few weeks it should be over but I thought this deserved a blog!

What is whooping cough?

Whooping cough is an infection caused by a bacterium (germ) called Bordetella pertussis. This bacterium is spread to others through contaminated droplets in the air, produced during coughing and by close contact with an affected person. The bacterium attaches to cells which line the airways. It then multiplies and causes the symptoms.

Bordetella pertussis bacteria affect the lining of the airways in some way to cause symptoms (mainly a cough) to continue for a long time after the bacteria have gone.

What are the symptoms of whooping cough?

The illness typically follows a pattern.

Early stage (catarrhal phase)

At first there is often a sore throat. Within a day or so a mild, dry ordinary cough develops. At this stage you may feel mildly unwell and have a mild fever (high temperature). You may also have a runny nose. Over a few days the cough may become more productive with some sputum (phlegm) - but at first it still seems to be an ordinary cough.

Main coughing stage (paroxysmal phase)

After several days, often as many as 10-14 days from the start of the illness, the cough gets worse and becomes paroxysmal. This means there are bouts (paroxysms) of intense coughing. They are sometimes called choking coughs.

• During a bout of coughing, you repeatedly cough over and over again. The face often goes red and the body becomes tense. Eventually, there is a desperate attempt to breathe in, which may cause a whooping sound. Note: the whooping sound at the end of a bout of coughing only happens in about half of cases.
• Some children may stop breathing at the end of a bout of coughing and go blue for a short time. This looks worse than it actually is, as breathing usually quickly resumes.
• Each bout of coughing typically lasts 1-2 minutes.
• Several bouts of coughing may occur together and last several minutes in total.
• It is common to vomit at the end of a bout of coughing.
• The number of coughing bouts per day varies from case to case. You may only have a few bouts each day but some people have up to 100 bouts per day. The average is about 12-15 bouts per day.

Between the bouts of coughing you are likely to be well (unless you develop a complication, which is not common). The symptoms of fever, runny nose and other symptoms of illness have usually gone by this main coughing stage. But, each bout of coughing can be distressing.

This main coughing stage of the illness usually lasts at least two weeks, and often longer.

Easing stage (convalescent phase)

The bouts of coughing then ease gradually over a period which can last up to three months or more. (In some countries whooping cough is known as the cough of a 100 days.) As things seem to be easing, you may still get the odd bout of severe coughing.

Whooping cough can be very miserable as the bouts of coughing can be distressing. However, in some cases the symptoms are milder than described above. There may be just intermittent bouts of coughing which are not too bad without any whooping or vomiting.