She began to vomit. Moments later the peace had returned. This little girl with pertussis survived, but she had many more weeks of coughing spasms before she could return home to her parents. Pertussis, or whooping cough, which once ravaged children around the world, is again on the rise. During the last year about 300,000 children worldwide died from pertussis.
Global travel can result in outbreaks anywhere.
Earlier this month, all pediatricians in my area received a public health alert about a sudden, dangerous increase in pertussis cases. He had had a nagging cough for the last month. Sometimes he hacked up mucus with his cough. Sometimes the cough came in fits. Once or twice he had coughed until he vomited.