Fever may or may not be present. Sometimes Pertussis can be mistaken for bronchitis. Younger children may have more severe symptoms. Adults and older children may have the persistent cough but no whoop. Incubation time for this illness, the time from exposure to actual disease, is 7 to 20 days from the date of exposure.
Younger children tend to have more severe symptoms.
Older children and adults may be more at risk of infection since immunity tends to wane with age and there is no vaccine for use after six years of age. For this reason it is very important to keep the children in a community vaccinated against this easily preventable illness.