How to prevent and care when whooping cough is spreading

• “Whooping cough” is a bacterium found in mucus, saliva, and phlegm. When contagious, it causes inflammation of the respiratory tract lining. If it occurs in newborns, it can be severe and life-threatening. 
• Whooping cough is very contagious. An 80-100% chance of infection for an unimmune person from an infected person living in the same household. 
• Can be prevented with the combined diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis vaccine

Causes of whooping cough

Whooping cough is an infectious disease caused by “whooping cough” bacteria call “Bordetella pertussis” which is found in mucus, saliva and phlegm of patients. When the bacteria enter the respiratory tract, they attach to the cells lining the back of the nasal cavity and produce various toxins which affect the inflammation of the respiratory tract lining, resulting in various symptoms. This bacteria has a severe effect on newborns, which can be fatal. 

How is whooping cough transmitted?

Whooping cough is very contagious. People who are infected with the disease and are not immune to the disease can be infected from an infected person living in the same house at a rate of 80-100%. However, if you have been vaccinated against diphtheria, tetanus and are immune, the chance of infection is about 20%. Most children ทางเข้า ufabet are infected from adults in the family, spreading through the respiratory tract through nasal discharge, saliva, or sputum of an infected person. If infected, symptoms will be noticeable within about 5-10 days. However, if infected for more than 3 weeks and there are no symptoms, it means that you are not infected.

How to recognize symptoms if you suspect that you have ainfection

Symptoms of whooping cough divide into 3 stages: 

The total duration of the disease, if there are no complications, is approximately 6-10 weeks.  

Phase 1Catarrhal phase is also call the cold phase. Symptoms are similar to the common cold, such as low fever, runny nose, sneezing, mild cough, fatigue, red eyes, and watery eyes. 

Phase 2  The paroxysmal phase is call the severe phase. Which lasts for 7-10 days. During this phase, most people cannot diagnos. However, it is notd that patients will experience more symptoms according to point 1. They may have severe coughing and after the coughing ends, they will make a distinct sound (whooshing sound) if they cough continuously for a long time until they bend over and cannot breathe (at one time, they will cough continuously for about 5-10 times or more, then stop and start coughing again, repeating this). This coughing may occur only 5-10 times a day or tens of times in just 1 hour. Patients will have severe coughing during the first 2 weeks. Coughing tends to occur more frequently at night. When exposed to cold air, drinking very cold water, or being exposed to dust or cigarette smoke.

Stage 3Convalescent phase or recovery phase This phase will last approximately 2-3 weeks. Patients will be able to eat more, gain weight, and their coughing and severity will gradually decrease until they completely disappear.