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Whooping Cough

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The common name for pertussis, an acute infection of the upper respiratory tract featuring violent, loud bouts of coughing that end in a whoop. Vomiting usually occurs at the end of the coughing spell. Most serious in young children, whooping cough is highly contagious and will infect virtually all susceptible children who come in contact with the bacterium. It can lead to seizures, PNEUMONIA, brain damage, and death.

Before the vaccine was available in the 1940s about 200,000 children got sick each year and about 8,000 died. Because the disease can be deadly in infants, babies should be isolated from anyone with whooping cough. While the number of cases has declined since the introduction of the vaccine, it is far from eradicated.