Whooping cough in adults is often underdiagnosed or misdiagnosed. An adult who has whooping cough is sometimes treated for allergies, asthma, and is even tested for lung cancer. And the consequences of untreated whooping cough can be very serious: pneumonia, inflammation of the inner ear, and even an empyema of the pleura and emphysema.

Whooping cough(whooping cough)in adultshappens more and more often. There are several reasons for this - one of them is that whooping cough is a very contagious disease. PertussisBordetella pertussisis easily transmitted by droplets.

What Are The Symptoms Of Whooping Cough And How Is Whooping Cough Treated In Adults? What complications can this disease cause?

Whooping cough in adults: symptoms

In the first phasewhooping coughappears:

  • qatar
  • pharyngitis
  • bloodshot conjunctiva
  • coughing
  • and (but not always) fever.

Such symptoms last for a week or two weeks, and the doctor during the examination determines a respiratory tract infection. At this time, it is difficult to determine who the cause of the symptoms is whooping cough. Gradually, however, the concentration of bacterial toxins increases and then a really serious stage of the disease begins - the phase in which an extremely nagging and tiring cough appears.

Toxins damage the epithelium of the respiratory tract, forming thick and sticky mucus. All of this causes the body to cough, which can result in vomiting and even fits. The coughing attacks last for several weeks and then gradually stop. But the cough may come back for several months before it is completely forgotten.

Whooping cough in adults: diagnosis

The disease lulled the doctors' vigilance a bit, but in the face of the ever-growing number of patients, it is more and more often diagnosed correctly. Older doctors can easily recognize the specific cough with the characteristic rooster-like wheezing breath that accompanies it.

It is always helpful to have a blood test that shows a significant increase in leukocyte count inwhooping coughand a test for pertussis antibodies and sputum culture.

Whooping cough in adults: treatment

Treatment is based on the administration of special antibioticsacting on the whooping cough bacteria. There are times when medications need to be administered intravenously while in hospital. Antibiotics do not relieve coughing, but they reduce the duration of symptoms and therefore the risk of complications and the spread of the bacteria to other people.

What can you do to relieve whooping cough?

  • take prescribed medications and stay at home because you infect
  • rest,
  • follow a light, vitamin-rich diet
  • try to keep the air in the room humid and rather cool - coughing attacks will be less frequent and less bothersome.

The coughing attacks will get milder as you heal, but the coughing may continue for months. Characteristic for people who have had whooping cough is that the tiring cough appears after a banal cold, even for several years after the disease.

Whooping cough in adults: whooping cough immunization

Whooping cough vaccinationsare compulsory for children, while adults are recommended, which means that you have to pay for them out of your own pocket (the cost varies depending on the laboratory from 100 to PLN 200).

Everyone should get vaccinated with whooping cough, especially people who have constant contact with young children (e.g. young parents), nursery staff, medical staff, people caring for elderly parents or the chronically ill. Pregnant women can also get vaccinated whooping cough (recommended time is between 27 and 36 weeks of pregnancy).

Vaccination against whooping cough does not give immunity to the end of life, therefore it should be repeated every 10 years, in accordance with the Polish Preventive Immunization Program. The vaccine does not protect against disease in one hundred percent, but it reduces both the risk of the disease and its complications, which include, among others, pneumonia, but also ailments resulting from persistent, tiring coughing attacks, e.g. rib fractures, hernia, urinary incontinence, rectal prolapse or even subconjunctival bleeding.

An adult who has been vaccinated for training should take a booster dose of the vaccine. An adult who has not been vaccinated before should receive the vaccine according to on a three-dose schedule followed by a booster dose every 10 years.

Absolute contraindications for vaccination include anaphylactic reaction to the previously administered dose of pertussis vaccine, allergy to any of its components, and severe encephalopathy within 7 days of the previous dose.

Category:

Infectious diseases