Whooping cough or pertussis, is a highly contagious respiratory disease which affects mostly infants. It is the one disease that requires hospitalization almost uniformly for all infants suffering from it and can ultimately be fatal. Today, whooping cough remains one of the leading causes of high death rates among infants. Convulsions and pneumonia are the most common complications of the disease that make this disease so severe.
Research has shown that the incidence of whooping cough has increased over the years with more number of cases being reported since 1980s. Since the disease is highly contagious, this is hardly surprising. From surveys conducted, it is estimated that every decade, the number of infants suffering from this disease more than doubles. However, with the recent advancements in science and the discovery of the vaccination for whooping cough, the incidences have been successfully brought down. The DTaP or the diphtheria and tetanus toxoids and acellular pertussis vaccine is the safest and perhaps the only way for protecting your infant from this extremely dangerous disease. The vaccine is administered to infants when they are two months old. That is the right time to get your infant vaccinated because that is also the time when the infants are most susceptible to this disease. It is necessary however, to complete all the doses of the vaccine to ensure that your infant is well protected.
Two doses of the vaccine also are quite effective. However, a total of three shots are required so that the maximum benefit of the vaccination can be realized. If your infant’s immunity is compromised, there is a danger of the disease being contracted. Therefore, it is important that all three doses are given to the child at the right time. A booster dose is also present for the parents. Since whooping cough is an extremely contagious disease, the parent may inadvertently transfer their own symptoms to their infant. In the infant, the common cold contracted from the parent can eventually turn into the whopping cough where the glotti of the child becomes inflammated and painful. With the booster dose the exposure of the infants from adults who may have symptoms of illness, cold and cough, becomes significantly less.
Also as a precautionary measure, keep adults who show signs of illness and cough away from your infant. It has been observed that many infants contract this disease from older siblings, parents, grandparents, or other members of the family who are carriers of the disease and pass it on to the infant who is just beginning to develop immunity.