Home › Health Topics › Infections & Immunisation >  Search
Topics  Whooping cough (pertussis)  whoop; whooping; cough;
pertussis; immunisation; immunization; vaccine; vaccination;
mucous; erythromycin; infection; Bordetella;  Whooping cough
(also called pertussis) is an infection of the nose, throat and
lungs which causes long bursts of coughing (up to several
minutes long). In young children the coughing spell often ends
in a 'whooping' noise when the child can finally take a breath
in.   Children can have several coughing spells each hour,
including while they are sleeping. They can also go on having
coughing spells for many weeks (up to about 3 months for some).
Older children and adults can have whooping cough without the
'whooping' sound. They have coughing spells lasting a minute or
more, followed by several minutes of not coughing.  Whooping
cough can be life threatening for babies. Newborns are not
immune and they often get extremely sick. Babies who get
whooping cough often get it from others in the