Recovery from this can happen slowly. Your cough gets milder and happens less often. The coughing fits can come back if you have another respiratory infection, even months after you first got whooping cough.
Your health care provider may use many tools to diagnose whooping cough :. The treatment for whooping cough is usually antibiotics. Early treatment is very important.
It may make your infection less serious and can also help prevent spreading the disease to others. Treatment after you have been sick for 3 weeks or longer may not help. The bacteria are gone from your body by then, even though you usually still have symptoms.
This is because the bacteria have already done damage to your body. Vaccines are the best way to prevent whooping cough. These vaccines also provide protection against tetanus and diphtheria. Babies and other people at high risk serious disease should be kept away from people who have whooping cough. Sometimes health care providers give antibiotics to family members of people who have had whooping cough or people who have been exposed to it. The antibiotics may prevent them from getting the disease.
The information on this site should not be used as a substitute for professional medical care or advice. Contact a health care provider if you have questions about your health. Whooping Cough Also called: Pertussis. There are a few reasons: First, protection from the pertussis vaccine wears off, making people vulnerable. Although teens get vaccinated in grade 9 secondary III , most adults don't get boosters; so they can get and spread the disease.
The problem with pertussis is that it is usually benign in adults and thus, does not get diagnosed. Also, infants start their vaccination series at two months but are not fully protected until they get their third shot.
That being said, they are vulnerable to catch whooping cough from siblings, parents and caretakers who might not even know they have it. How to protect your family. You can take steps to help prevent whopping cough from affecting your family, or minimize the severity of the infection with these two steps:.
Whooping cough cases have always waxed and waned in natural cycles, peaking every three to five years. Since the s, though, the number of cases has been on a steady climb. Doctors are recognizing the disease earlier and more often, now that it's back on their radars, and testing for it has improved.
But these aren't the only reasons for the increase. Another important factor was a change made in in the kind of pertussis vaccine used in the United States. The first pertussis vaccine contained inactivated but complete bacterial cells.
Typically, vaccines contain bits of the target microbe, which trigger our immune systems to mount a defense against them and—most importantly—remember them in case of future invasion.
The whole cells in the old vaccine offered the immune system a huge selection of pertussis-specific targets to recognize and remember. But then some people became concerned because the vaccine was causing seemingly alarming reactions, including fever-induced seizures and fainting.
Even though these reactions didn't cause any lasting damage, the relatively high rate of these reactions about one in every 1, doses of the vaccine resulted in a seizure event prompted the development and approval of a new version of the pertussis vaccine.
Instead of using the whole bacterial cell, it offers the immune system only select bits of the cell that trigger an immune defense. Because it doesn't rely on complete cells, the new version is called an acellular vaccine. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Syndicate. Minus Related Pages. Identifying Pertussis Outbreaks. Protecting Babies To reduce the risk of pertussis in new mothers and their young babies, CDC recommends that pregnant women receive Tdap vaccine during each pregnancy.
Using Antibiotics More cases of pertussis are occurring and spreading through communities. Therefore, it may not be effective for health departments to Spend a lot of time and resources looking for those exposed to pertussis extensive contact tracing Provide antibiotics to all contacts to help prevent further cases of pertussis post exposure antimicrobial prophylaxis, or PEP Antibiotics may prevent pertussis if given before symptoms begin. Given these considerations, CDC supports targeting PEP to people At high risk of developing a serious case of pertussis, such as young babies Who will have close contact with those at high risk of developing a serious case of pertussis.
Active Screening Public health officials may consider active screening for symptomatic patients with suspected pertussis during outbreaks in settings such as schools, day care centers, and hospitals.
Active screening for suspected cases may: Reduce exposure to people with pertussis Encourage timely medical evaluation and treatment of cases Promote prompt administration of antibiotics to high-risk close contacts Learn more about pertussis surveillance and reporting.
Related Pages. Related Links.
0コメント