Research Paper On Pertussis

Pertussis is a contagious infection of the respiratory tract. It is commonly known as “whooping cough”because of the whooping sound the person makes after coughing. Pertussis causes bad coughing that can last up to ten weeks or more, this is why some people call it the “100 day cough”. Pertussis or “whooping cough” is caused by an infection by a bacterium known as Bordetella Pertussis. The bacteria attaches itself to the lining of the airway, release toxins, and lead to inflammation. Whooping cough is not a genetic disease. It is an infectious disease caused by pathogens like: viruses, bacteria, and fungi.This disease can be inherited or passed down from someone in their environment. For someone to inherit whooping cough they have to get it from their parents or it has to run in their family. The inheritance of a disease depends on how important genetics are to the disease. Strong genetic diseases are inherited, partial genetic diseases are sometimes inherited, and disease that do not have anything to do with genetics are not inherited at all. Symptoms of this disease are runny nose, dry cough, low fever, and fatigue. After a few days of the early symptoms it gets worse and coughing becomes severe. It becomes so severe that the coughing can last up to a minute. While coughing, people tend to turn red or blue due to lack of oxygen.
These coughing fits can cause vomiting and people tend to cough up large amounts of phlegm. Sometimes there can be complications that occur during coughing episodes. People can fracture ribs, they tend to have broken blood vessels in the eyes or on the skin, or sometimes cause hernias. Complications in infants are dehydration, pneumonia, seizures, or even brain damage. The complications with infants or smaller children can be life threatening. Risk factors for this disease include airborne transmission, coughing, sneezing, and even droplet transmission. Adults with a cough should stay away from infants.
The diagnosis for whooping cough is usually made from information gathered by taking a thorough health history.
This includes symptoms, vaccination history, and performing a physical exam. The treatment of whooping cough starts with prevention. The best way to prevent whooping cough is to get a vaccination. Treatment includes antibiotics. If infants get pertussis and it is sever they have to hospitalized. Older children or adults only have to be hospitalized if the case of whooping cough is severe enough. More treatment is the drinking of fluids to prevent dehydration, rest, a cool mist vaporizer, or supplemental oxygen if
needed.
Anyone can get pertussis. It affects infants younger than six months before they are protected by immunizations and kids eleven to eighteen whose immunity has started to fade. Pertussis will gradually resolve over a couple of weeks but the coughing can last for months. With good care most people recover from this disease with no problems but, if complications develop the prognosis will be much worse.