Pertussis, also called \u201cwhooping cough,\u201d is a disease caused by bacteria (germs) that is easily spread from person to person. Pertussis is usually mild in older children and adults, but it often causes serious problems in very young children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pertussis symptoms have three stages. The first stage begins like a cold with a runny nose, sneezing and cough. The cough lasts for a week or two then slowly gets worse. The second stage is marked by uncontrolled coughing spells, vomiting after coughing, and sometimes a whooping noise that you can hear when the person breathes in. During severe coughing spells or spasms, a person may stop breathing or become blue in the face from lack of air. Between spells, the person often appears to be well. This stage lasts for about 2 to 6 weeks. The final stage is when the symptoms begin to gradually lessen. The person still may have coughing spells, but is beginning to get better. The duration of classic pertussis is about 6 to 10 weeks. Adults, teens and vaccinated children often have milder symptoms that can be like bronchitis or some other cough illness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The germs that cause pertussis live in the nose, mouth and throat, and are sprayed into the air when an infected person sneezes, coughs or talks. Other people nearby can then breathe in the germs. Touching a tissue or sharing a cup used by someone with pertussis can also spread the disease. The first symptoms appear about 7 to 10 days after a person is exposed. People with pertussis can spread the disease starting up to 2 weeks before until 3 weeks after the cough starts, or until they have finished 5 days of an appropriate antibiotic treatment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Massachusetts, pertussis is most common among people over 10 years old who have lost the protection they got from childhood vaccines. Infants are also very likely to get the disease since they are often too young to have full protection from the vaccine. However, anyone can catch pertussis and it can be hard to diagnose because symptoms may resemble a cold, followed by a nagging cough that lasts for weeks or months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It can be, especially for infants. Pertussis can cause breathing problems, pneumonia, and swelling of the brain (encephalitis), which can lead to seizures and brain damage. Pertussis can also cause death, especially in very young infants, but this is rare. In older children, teens and adults, the disease is milder but may last for weeks or months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pertussis can be very hard to diagnose. A doctor may think a patient has pertussis because of the symptoms, but a laboratory test is the only way to be sure. Pertussis is often diagnosed using a swab taken from the back of the nose. A blood test can also be done in some adolescents and adults.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The main treatment is plenty of rest and fluids, and antibiotics. Oxygen, medicine to help the patient breathe and mild sedatives are sometimes needed to help control severe coughing spells. Antibiotics can make the disease milder and the person less able to spread the disease if they are started early enough. Anyone who has been exposed to pertussis should see a doctor for antibiotics to prevent the disease, even if they were vaccinated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Although pertussis disease is likely to provide immunity against pertussis, the duration of such immunity decreases over time. For this reason, people exposed to pertussis should see their doctor for antibiotics, even if they had the disease in the past. Children younger than 7 years old should have their immunization record reviewed by their doctor, in case they need more DTaP (diphtheria, tetanus and acellular pertussis) shots. Older children and adults who have never received a single dose of Tdap (tetanus, diphtheria and acellular pertussis) vaccine should talk to their doctor about getting a Tdap shot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Vaccination is the best way to protect against pertussis. Pertussis vaccine is given with diphtheria and tetanus vaccines in the same shot. The shot that is currently used for children less than 7 years old is called DTaP (diphtheria, tetanus, acellular pertussis). Tdap (tetanus, diphtheria, acellular pertussis) is a vaccine for children 7 years of age and older, adolescents and adults. Currently only 1 dose of Tdap is recommended. Before the Tdap vaccine was available, adolescents and adults did not have a good way to prevent pertussis because immunity to pertussis from childhood vaccines decreases over time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
All vaccines, like other medicines, can cause side effects in some people. The DTaP vaccine can cause redness, swelling where the shot was given, fever, drowsiness, or fretfulness. More serious reactions, including seizures and persistent crying lasting for more than 3 hours, are very rare. Getting the DTaP vaccine is much safer than getting pertussis, and most people do not have any problems with the vaccine. Many more young children will get pertussis if parents stop getting them vaccinated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Tdap vaccine can cause pain, redness, swelling where the shot was given, fever, headache, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and other mild problems. More serious reactions are very rare. Getting the Tdap vaccine is much safer than getting pertussis, and most people do not have any problems with the vaccine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
All children younger than 7 years old should get this vaccine unless they have a history of seizures or other brain problem or had a serious health problem after getting DTaP before. If not, your child should get DTaP when he or she is: 2 months old, 4 months old, 6<\/strong> months old, 12\u201315 months old, and 4\u20136 years old.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Older children and adults should get one shot of Tdap instead of a regular tetanus shot (Td). Adolescents usually get the Tdap shot at their 11-12 year old visit. It is especially important for adults in contact with young infants, such as parents, grandparents, health care workers and child care providers, to get a single Tdap shot. Children 7 to 10 years of age can get a dose of Tdap if they have not received all of their doses of DTaP and are not fully protected against pertussis.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" What is Pertussis? Pertussis, also called \u201cwhooping cough,\u201d is a disease caused by bacteria (germs) that is easily spread from person to person. Pertussis is usually mild in older children and adults, but it often causes serious problems in very young children. What are the symptoms of pertussis? Pertussis symptoms have three stages. The first stage begins like a cold with a runny nose, sneezing and cough. The cough lasts for a week or two then slowly gets worse. The second stage is marked by uncontrolled coughing spells, vomiting after coughing, and sometimes a whooping noise that you can hear when the person breathes in. During severe coughing spells or spasms, a person may stop breathing or become blue in the face from lack of air. Between spells, the person often appears to be well. This stage lasts for about 2 to 6 weeks. The final stage is when the symptoms begin to gradually lessen. The person still may have coughing spells, but is beginning to get better. The duration of classic pertussis is about 6 to 10 weeks. Adults, teens and vaccinated children often have milder symptoms that can be like bronchitis or some other cough illness. How is pertussis spread? The germs that cause pertussis live in the nose, mouth and throat, and are sprayed into the air when an infected person sneezes, coughs or talks. Other people nearby can then breathe in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.georgiaemsacademy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4540"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.georgiaemsacademy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.georgiaemsacademy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.georgiaemsacademy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.georgiaemsacademy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4540"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.georgiaemsacademy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4540\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4541,"href":"https:\/\/blog.georgiaemsacademy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4540\/revisions\/4541"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.georgiaemsacademy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4540"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.georgiaemsacademy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4540"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.georgiaemsacademy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4540"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Who should get Tdap vaccine?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n