This may have rubbed off on the whooping cough vaccine as well. Many people refused to allow their babies to have the vaccination, and conservative estimates suggest that this scare led to 70-100 extra deaths in Britain. The vaccine does cause some unpleasant minor side effects, such as fever or crying, but there is no evidence that it has serious long-term health implications. When a child is not immunised, transmission of the disease is relatively straightforward. Whooping cough is spread by direct contact with discharges from the nose and throat of infected individuals.
Sufferers remain infectious for three weeks after the onset of coughing.
The infection could be picked up abroad. It is also possible to catch whooping cough from adults. Up to one third of people with persistent hacking coughs may be harbouring the Bordetella pertussis bacterium. There is no effective vaccination for adults. Once a child contracts whooping cough, he or she may be ill for many months.