Whooping Cough
Pertussis commonly known as whooping cough is a very deadly disease in infants that can cause permanent disability or in the most severe cases death. In the 20th century the disease was the cause of many infant and children dying but with the introduction of the vaccine in the mid- 1970s the number of deaths greatly declined.
Since then recent studies have showed the disease reappearing in adolescents and adults whose vaccinations have worn off and have not received proper vaccination in the ages of 11 to 64 years old. The respiratory tract infection starts as the common cold but over time progresses into a hacking cough that can turn deadly if untreated, but by knowing the symptoms and knowing some prevention this epidemic can fade away.The whooping cough starts as the common cold with symptoms like runny nose, nasal congestion, sneezing, red and watery eyes, a mild fever, and a dry cough. By the symptoms resembling those of the common cold some people do not seek treatment immediately before it turns worse.
Within the first 12 days the individual becomes hard of breathing, coughing and vomiting simultaneously, sometimes loss of consciousness, and coughing ends with high pitched "whooping" sound. With infants the symptoms are ear infections, pneumonia, slowed or stopped breathing, dehydration, seizures, and brain damage.
The infants become so sickly that they need constant monitoring and hospitalization. Even though, these symptoms would definitely alert someone to the seriousness of their condition some adolescents and adults do not show symptoms.
The disease disburses very easily with the bacteria being able to spread with something as simple as a cough being sprayed through the air with thousands of germs going into the air. Once someone has the bacteria attaches to their airways and makes the individual cough uncontrollably.
Way to prevent the virus from spreading is to get immunization immediately.
Article by : Jocelyn Owens, Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jocelyn_Owens