Life and Leisure

Adults with whooping cough pose risk to infants

(China Daily)
Updated: 2010-09-15 07:53

Whooping cough is not a common illness in children, but it poses a big risk to infants. They can contract the disease from adults who often carry the pathogen. Doctors recommend adults refresh their immunity to the disease every 10 years.

Whooping cough begins just like any other normal cough, but it quickly develops into an uncontrollable fit of coughing, often hitting at night. In the past, children frequently contracted the disease. But, thanks to vaccination programs, the number has fallen considerably.

"Whooping cough is transmitted by contact with airborne droplets of mucus," explains Thomas Loescher, head of the Department for Infectious and Tropical Disease at the University of Munich. That means the bacteria is often spread through coughing.

The disease is caused by a bacteria called Bordetella pertussis. "The bacteria is inhaled and reproduces in the body's air passages," Loescher says. "That's where they produce the pathogen that damages cells and causes inflammation, especially in the bronchi."

At first the patient notices nothing unusual, says Ulrich Fegeler, spokesman for Germany's Professional Association of Pediatricians.

The first symptoms emerge after a three- to 12-day incubation period. Over a period of about three weeks the cough gradually becomes worse. In the following three weeks, the patient will experience fits of coughing and sometimes shortness of breath. Thereafter the disease subsides and coughing fits reduce.

Whooping cough can be very dangerous.

"Small children, and infants in particular, can develop a life-threatening lung infection," warns Fegeler. The whooping cough bacteria can also infect the diaphragm, causing it to contract and make breathing impossible within seconds.

An effective vaccine against whooping cough was developed many years ago.

"The first vaccination is usually given nine weeks after birth and is part of a combination of vaccines against a number of child diseases," explains Ursel Lindlbauer-Eisenach, member of the Permanent Vaccine Commission, at the Robert Koch Institute in Berlin.

The first booster injection is given around the age of 2.5, the second shortly before school begins at the age of 5 or 6. Teenagers should receive a third booster injection by age 17 and adults should get at least one more.

"Most small children in Germany have been vaccinated," says Lindlbauer-Eisenach. "We have a very high vaccination rate of over 90 percent."

But that rate sinks in older age groups. "Teenagers and adults have much lower rates of vaccination."

What most people don't know is that the whooping cough vaccination lasts for only 10 years, even if you had the disease in the past.

"The danger is that an adult will get sick and spend weeks coughing and then pass the illness onto a child or infant who is at much greater risk." The Robert Koch Institute recommends adults get a booster vaccination every 10 years, especially if they have a small child in the family.

German Press Agency