Whooping cough begins with what appears to be a normal cold, which then develop into a cough.
It involves infection by bacteria which irritate the airways and cause them to become swollen and clogged by thick mucus. The reassuring aspect of whooping cough is that the onset is gradual. If there is whooping cough going around your neighbourhood and your child develops a cold or a cough, you can start treatment immediately. You have from ten days to two weeks to treat the child, before the coughing becomes more serious, to prevent the whooping stage. Ninety children with whooping cough were given vitamin C orally or were injected with 5000 milligrams daily for 7 days, with the dosage being gradually reduced until a daily level of 100 milligrams was reached.