Whooping Cough

Introduction: Whooping Cough

Whooping Cough: Highly communicable, vaccine-preventable disease that lasts for many weeks and is typically manifested in children with ... more about Whooping Cough.

Whooping Cough: An infectious condition caused by the bacteria Bordetella pertussis. More detailed information about the symptoms, causes, and treatments of Whooping Cough is available below.

Symptoms of Whooping Cough

• Phase 1: Cold-like symptoms:
  • Cold-like symptoms
  • Cough
  • Mild fever - or no fever at all in early stages
  • Running nose

See full list of 47 symptoms of Whooping Cough

Home Diagnostic Testing

Home medical testing related to Whooping Cough:

• Home Lung Function Tests
• Cold & Flu: Home Testing:
  • Home Fever Tests
  • Home Ear Infection Tests
  • Home Flu Tests

Medical Textbooks Online about Whooping Cough

Book excerpts: Copyright © 2008 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. All rights reserved.

Wrongly Diagnosed with Whooping Cough?

• Misdiagnosis of Whooping Cough
• Failure to diagnose Whooping Cough
• Failure to diagnose Whooping Cough

Misdiagnosis and Whooping Cough

Mild worm infections undiagnosed in children: Human worm infestations, esp. threadworm, can be overlooked in some cases, because it may cause only mild or even absent symptoms....read more »

Sinusitis is overdiagnosed: There is a tendency to give a diagnosis of sinusitis, when the condition is really a harmless complication of another infection, such as a common cold....read more »

Whooping cough often undiagnosed: Although most children in the Western world have been immunized against whooping cough (also called "pertussis"), this protection wears off after about 15 years. Thus, any teen or...read more »

Mesenteric adenitis misdiagnosed as appendicitis in children: Because appendicitis is one of the more feared conditions for a child with abdominal pain, it can be over-diagnosed (it can, of course, also fail to be diagnosed with fatal...read more »

Blood pressure cuffs misdiagnose hypertension in children: One known misdiagnosis issue with hyperension, arises in relation to the simple equipment used...read more »

Children with migraine often misdiagnosed: A migraine often fails to be correctly diagnosed in pediatric patients. These patients are not the typical migraine sufferers, but migraines can also occur in children...read more »

Chronic lung diseases hard to diagnose: Some of the chronic lung diseases are difficult to diagnose. Even the well-knowns conditions such as asthma or lung cancer often...read more »

Read more about Misdiagnosis and Whooping Cough

Causes of Whooping Cough

Read more about causes of Whooping Cough.

More information about causes of Whooping Cough:

• Medical news summaries relating to Causes of Whooping Cough

Treatments for Whooping Cough

• Intensive nursing techniques
• Antibiotics - used to treat the early stages; not very helpful in later coughing stages.
• Fluids
• Salt solutions
• Avoidance of cough spasm triggers

See full list of 16 treatments for Whooping Cough

Videos for Whooping Cough

Patient Surveys for Whooping Cough

• Patient Profile Survey
  Take Survey  View Results
• Survey about the symptoms of your Whooping Cough
  Take Survey  View Results

Prognosis for Whooping Cough

More about prognosis of Whooping Cough

Reseach about Whooping Cough

Visit our research pages for current research about Whooping Cough treatments.

Clinical Trials for Whooping Cough

The US based website ClinicalTrials.gov lists information on both federally and privately supported clinical trials using human volunteers.

Some of the clinical trials listed on ClinicalTrials.gov for Whooping Cough include:

• Intravenous Pertussis Immune Globulin in Patients With Severe Childhood Pertussis Infection - This study is no longer recruiting patients (Current: 23 Nov 2006) - immune globulin
• Concomitant Use of Gardasil (V501, Human Papillomavirus [Types 6, 11, 16, 18] Recombinant Vaccine) With Combined Diphtheria, Tetanus, Pertussis Vaccine and Meningococcal Conjugate Vaccine in Adolescents - This study is not yet open for patient recruitment (Current: 23 Nov 2006)
• Concomitant Use of Gardasil (V501, Human Papillomavirus [Types 6, 11, 16, 18] Recombinant Vaccine) With Combined Diphtheria, Tetanus, Pertussis and Poliomyelitis Vaccine in Adolescents - This study is no longer recruiting patients (Current: 23 Nov 2006)
• Safety and Immunogenicity of DAPTACEL as 5th Dose in Children 4 to 6 Years Old After 4 Doses of Pentacel or DAPTACEL - This study is no longer recruiting patients (Current: 23 Nov 2006)
• Safety and Immune Response of Different Pediatric Combination Vaccines. - This study is currently recruiting patients (Current: 23 Nov 2006)

See full list of 74 Clinical Trials for Whooping Cough

Prevention of Whooping Cough

Prevention information for Whooping Cough has been compiled from various data sources and may be inaccurate or incomplete. None of these methods guarantee prevention of Whooping Cough.

• Infant immunization schedule
• Pertussis vaccine
• DTPa vaccinations - combined vaccine for diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (whooping cough)
• Pertussis vaccine boosters - because protection by the vaccine reduces over about 10 years.

Read more about prevention of Whooping Cough

Statistics for Whooping Cough

• Medical statistics for Whooping Cough
• Prevalence and incidence statistics for Whooping Cough
• Death and Mortality statistics for Whooping Cough
• Society statistics for Whooping Cough

Stories from Users Related to Whooping Cough

• Cough that does not end
• heart pounding all day and night
• hey anyone with cough that doesnt go away??
• 3 days after possible exsposure and very worried.
• 33 day headache
• Never ending cough
• Haven't gone poop in 3-4 days.
• Killer cough condition
• need help with childs cough
• cough for 2 months now.
• chronic cough, gagging, choking, burning, hypersensitivity
• 38 day temple headache
• Strange days...scared, need help?
• My 30 days of Hell
• Undiagnosed tremors and cough - HELP!
• Constant Coughing
• Cough for over a month
• Chronic cough?
• Getting frustrated and feeling worse every day...
• chronic cough

Related forums and stories:

• Infectious Diseases (173)
  • small pink spots on penis
  • very high titers
  • MAC-do not have aids
  • Lymes-like symptoms. Could someone please help me?
  • Life after Alpha Strep/Strep Viridans
  • More user stories
• Respiratory Conditions (52)
  • Strange long lasting cough
  • Lung/Breathing Pain...any answers???
  • Granuloma / Fibromyalgia Symptoms
  • Sinisus Pain, Please Help
  • Recurring bronchitis
  • More user stories

User Interactive Forums

Read about other experiences, ask a question about Whooping Cough, or answer someone else's question, on our message boards:

• I can not get a diagnosis. Please help.
• Tell us your medical story.
• Share your misdiagnosis story.
• What is the best treatment for this?
• See all the forums.

Article Excerpts about Whooping Cough

Highly communicable, vaccine-preventable disease that lasts for many weeks and is typically manifested in children with paroxysmal spasms of severe coughing, whooping, and posttussive vomiting. (Source: excerpt from Pertussis: DBMD)

Definitions of Whooping Cough:

A species of gram-negative, aerobic bacteria that is the causative agent of WHOOPING COUGH. Its cells are minute coccobacilli that are surrounded by a slime sheath. - (Source - Diseases Database)

A disease of the respiratory mucous membrane - (Source - WordNet 2.1)

Whooping Cough is listed as a "rare disease" by the Office of Rare Diseases (ORD) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). This means that Whooping Cough, or a subtype of Whooping Cough, affects less than 200,000 people in the US population.
Source - National Institutes of Health (NIH)

Ophanet, a consortium of European partners, currently defines a condition rare when it affects 1 person per 2,000. They list Whooping Cough as a "rare disease".
Source - Orphanet