BETSY NEAHRING COLUMN: Antibiotics can quiet whooping cough

Betsy Neahring

Medical terminology can be very confusing for patients at times. Many terms are based on Greek or Latin words and seem to go on for at least 14 syllables.

Even common names for illnesses can be misleading. Ringworm is not actually caused by a worm, and don't get me started on chickenpox, a disease with absolutely no connection to poultry.

On the other hand, some conditions, such as whooping cough, sound just like their name and are easy to remember.

Medically, whooping cough is called pertussis, which is Latin for "intensive cough." It's a bacterial respiratory infection that starts out with the symptoms of a common cold, including congestion, runny nose, sneezing, low-grade fever and a mild, dry cough.

After one to two weeks, the cough progresses to a series of coughing attacks that can each last for more than a minute. At the end of a long coughing spell, the characteristic "whoop" can often be heard as your child gasps to catch his breath. (Note that some children, particularly very young infants, do not exhibit much of a whoop.)

At times, the cough can be so severe that it causes vomiting.

If you suspect pertussis, a doctor can confirm the diagnosis by swabbing or suctioning mucus from the child's nose for testing. Pertussis can be a tricky bug to detect in a lab, so your doctor may choose to treat your child based on symptoms alone.

Infants with whooping cough are often admitted to the hospital for intravenous fluids, antibiotics, oxygen and monitoring. Older children with less severe cases may be treated at home with bed rest and oral antibiotics such as erythromycin or azithromycin (Zithromax).

The medicine may need to be taken for two weeks or even longer, and the child's family members and close contacts may be asked to take antibiotics as well. Pertussis is highly contagious, and proper antibiotic use can help limit the spread of the disease.

Encourage fluids to thin the mucus and prevent dehydration, and use a cool mist vaporizer to soothe the irritated airways.

After the whooping subsides, the child may continue to have a chronic cough that can last for six weeks or more.

Prior to the introduction of a vaccine, whooping cough was a common cause of childhood illness and death. Even today, whooping cough can lead to serious complications like pneumonia and can be fatal. Widespread pertussis immunization has greatly reduced the incidence of whooping cough; however, in recent years the number of cases has increased, particularly among teens.

Years ago, the pertussis vaccine was associated with some rare but serious side effects, but the current vaccines have been modified to provide adequate coverage while improving the safety profile.

Children should generally receive a series of five shots before starting school (usually in combination with other immunizations) beginning at two months of age. Because vaccine immunity can fade over time, the American Academy of Pediatrics now recommends that children receive a pertussis booster at age 11 or 12 combined with the tetanus and diphtheria shot.

I found an old medical journal article from 1898 that recommended that children with whooping cough be treated by passing them under a donkey three times, noting that some donkeys have higher cure rates than others. Perhaps in a hundred years, our current medical treatments will sound equally strange, but at least they don't involve cleaning up after donkeys!



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Comments » 1

Warden writes:

I tried to get antibiotics for an earache a couple of years ago. You'd think I was asking for the moon on a platter!

Yet, they put it in everything any more: wipes, soap and even garbage bags!

I asked around and NO ONE seems to get antibiotics for ANY reason.
