This is the second post in our ongoing series about childhood/infant diseases or conditions on every other Friday.  Today's topic is Whooping Cough.

Defintion

Pertussis (whooping cough) is very contagious and can cause serious illness―especially in infants who are too young to be fully vaccinated. Make sure your young children get their recommended five shots.

Symptoms

Pertussis can cause serious illness in children and adults. The disease starts like the common cold, with runny nose or congestion, sneezing, and maybe mild cough or fever. But after 1–2 weeks, severe coughing begins. Children with the disease cough violently and rapidly, over and over, until the air is gone from their lungs and they're forced to inhale with a loud "whooping" sound. Pertussis is worse for very young children; more than half of infants less than 1 year of age who get the disease must be hospitalized. About 1 in 10 children with pertussis get pneumonia (lung infection), and about 1 in 50 will have convulsions.

More Information

To get more information about Whooping Cough, go here.

*Most of the information provided here is from the CDC site, click here to visit their site.