Whooping cough is a highly contagious bacterial respiratory infection spread by coughing or sneezing. Long coughing spells make it difficult for a child to eat, drink or even breathe. Vomiting can also follow a long coughing spell. The disease is most serious in small infants. With older children and adults the disease can be quite mild or can cause several weeks of exhausting coughing.
Whooping cough is transmitted through the air when an infected person coughs.
The number of reported pertussis cases has been on the increase in recent years in Washington state. Vaccine for Pertussis Children should be immunized with a four-shot series of the combination vaccine, DTaP, which includes diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis, in the first 18 months of life. Children who receive all four doses before their fourth birthday should receive a fifth dose before entering kindergarten or elementary school. The fifth dose is not necessary if the fourth dose was given on or after the fourth birthday. This combination vaccine is not given to individuals over age seven.