While in the hospital, your child may need suctioning of thick respiratory secretions. Breathing will be monitored and oxygen may be needed. For several days, your child will be isolated from other patients, with special precautions to prevent the infection from spreading to others, including hospital staff and visitors. Whooping cough is treated with antibiotics, usually for 2 weeks. Most experts believe that these medicines are most effective when they are given in the first stage of the illness before coughing spells begin.
Antibiotics are mostly important in stopping the spread of whooping cough infection.
Your child's doctor can confirm the diagnosis of whooping cough by taking cultures of respiratory fluids for examination in the laboratory. This involves taking swabs or suction samples from your child's nose or throat and checking the samples for growth of whooping cough bacteria. Blood tests and a chest X-ray may also be done. Cough medicines often do not relieve whooping cough coughing spells, so your child's doctor will probably recommend other forms of home treatment to help manage the cough. He or she will help you monitor your child's progress and watch for the development of complications like pneumonia or ear infection .