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Whooping cough (pertussis)
Whooping cough is a children's disease caused by bacteria (bordetella pertussis) which can be life-threatening primarily for newborn childs and infants. The illness usually appears in small epidemics and has its age peak in the infancy. The causative agent is very infectious and is transferred by droplet infection. The long course and the staccato like coughing fits are the most typical features of this infectious disease which represents an acute illness of the respiratory systems. You give with antibiotics (erythromycin). A new, good prophylactically also stand more wholesomely since some years, acellular vaccine at the disposal.
Whooping cough is worldwide one of the most frequent infectious diseases with children today certainly, too. But that is adults can go your course illustratedly is often atypical. You therefore represent an infection spring to be not underestimated for children. Newborn childs and infants are particularly at risk since they don't have any nest protection. Three quarters of the whooping cough deaths concern this age group. Girls more frequently than boys fall ill.
The whooping cough causative agent is the bacterium similar to rods, Bordetella pertussis. The man is its only host. It is by droplet infection therefore sneezing by cough or use the same dishes transfer, kisses. Infected are the most frequent infection spring which no symptoms show yet. The causative agent is very infectious. In this case this is said that (Kontagionsindex 0.80) fall ill put 80 to 90% of the not vaccinated contact persons of one on.
The pathogen increases after the infection in the flagellum epitheliums of the breath tract and an inflammation of the mucosa causes what leads to the formation of a tough mucus and the characteristic coughing fits. Bordetella pertussis produces a specific bacterium poison, the so-called pertussis toxin which independently of the real infection shoot maintains the disease process.
After got illness a long continual one passes (10 to 20 years) immunity.
1 is the incubation period, that is the period of time between infection and appearance of the first symptoms until 2 weeks, rare also three weeks.
The risk of infection is the greatest in the prodromal stage (see course) and fades away slowly with the 6th disease week. The infection ability starts, however, already at the end of the incubation period if no symptoms are recognizable yet. At execution of an antibiotic therapy the duration of the infection ability has been shortened for about 5 days after the beginning of the therapy.
The course can be divided up into three stadia:
The catarrhal starts or prodromal stage after the incubation period. The child has the symptoms of a banal cold, like common cold, moderate fever and uncharacteristic cough. This stage lasts for approximately one to two weeks. The pertussis causative agent is provable and treatable best now.
It comes in the convulsive stage to the typical coughing fits which appear in series of 15 to 20 clipped (staccato like) cough pushes. The child breathes in the air audibly at the end of the often several minutes of coughing fit so that it sounds like a cheering. The coughing fits are provoking cash by external stimuli (for example cigarette smoke or dry air) and appear principally at night. Within 24 hours it comes on an average to 5 to 50 panting coughing fits. Frequently the coughing fits are accompanied by flushing or cyanosis (blue coloring of the face) and the child breaks a tough mucus open. The eyes water and are reddened strongly. After a cough attack an amount free phase (refractory period) follows, in which the children relatively feel comfortable. Young infants breathe in the air not panting but the respiration can stop (apnea) at them. You must therefore be treated in the hospital. The convulsive stage lasts for two to six weeks and changes into the convalescence stage. This disease phase usually of two weeks lasts, however, can drag on also up to six weeks. The coughing fits and the vomiting decrease slowly, as well the risk of infection. The coughing fits can the next weeks, though, and months appears particularly by physical effort or at colds again and again.
The physician should be immediately gone to if you know that your not vaccinated child contact to one had infected. Go with your child also to the physician if it coughs without recovery trend (also at a nonspecific cough) longer than a week.
Your attending doctor will proceed as follows:
- A nose pharynx smear of the causative agents is stating to the diagnosis protection in the early disease stage. After some weeks special antibodies can be proved in the blood. The typical coughing fits are a characteristic arbitrary indication for the illness for the physician.
- Your physician will prescribe an antibiotic (erythromycin) for you for your child. It must be taken for 14 days. It doesn't prevent the outbreak of the coughing fits, however, can shorten the prodromal stage and reduce the risk of infection. Because the cough attacks are triggered by the bacterium poison pertussis toxin, that antibiotic doesn't ask about it. Merely the causative agent itself, Bordetella pertussis, is eliminated by the medicine.
- You become medicinal cough blockers doesn't order physician probably since they hardly work, will recommend fluid supply in the amount free phases much it instead. Your child should get also preferentially mushy fluid nutrition in these phases.
- Perhaps he prescribes one expectorant medicine, around which as of cough to make easier and mild sedatives, to muffle coughing fits around which.
- Your physician will immediately order infants to the prevention which had contact with fallen ill antibiotics.
- Perhaps he will introduce your infant to a hospital. Infants often are not able, off cough the mucus and it can come to respiratory arrests. You can lead to heavy health damages or even to the death. The mucus is therefore siphoned in the clinic. The stop the respiration is recognized there at full term and can be immediately treated by artificial respiration.
The following useful measures can seize you yourself:
- Seat your child at a coughing fit uprightly, lightly to the front stoopedly.
- Provide a bowl into which the child can spit the expectoration. You deliver bowls perhaps in several rooms to have to put back without long ways to the toilet so that your child can spit the expectoration out or vomit. Clean the bowls with a boiling water to prevent a spreading of the infection.
- Keep rest during a coughing fit. A panic only would make the dyspnea worse.
- If your child breaks open after a coughing fit, you give him something much to eat fluid and a little snack. You increase by the fact that it keeps something at itself and stays with powers the chance.
- Avoid that your child makes an effort too strongly physically. A coughing fit is triggered by it lightly and exhausts the child.
- Don't expose your child to any cigarette smoke. Provide a wet space air.
- If your child isn't treated with antibiotics, then you should keep it away from not protected adults and children during the two till six-week cough phase. There is risk of infection up to the fading away of the symptoms.
- You send your child to school or the nursery school only again if your attending doctor permits this.
Complications are the most frequent with young children. Bleedings of the eye conjunctiva can appear as a result of the pressing cough, for example. The subsequent illnesses after whooping cough infections are but also problematic. Lung inflammations are particularly frequent, often caused by secondary bacterial shoots. Otitis medias or illnesses of the brain with seizures also belong to the complications. The latter are rare, however, contribute to the deaths fundamentally in the infancy.
The children can prophylactically be vaccinated. The vaccination represents the only effective protection from a whooping cough illness. It can not completely protected from an infection, it, however, prevents a heavy illness.
Very well wholesome, acellular vaccines are available since some years. The immunologically effective components of the whooping cough bacteria, no more only contain the inactivated whole shoot you.
These informations may be considered a substitute for a piece of medical advice in no case. The content of health-illness.com doesn't can and may be put into any case to make diagnoses or carry out self medical treatment independently.
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