The cause of prolonged paroxysmal cough with difficult to separate viscous sputum may be whooping cough. Symptoms in children are the same as with a normal viral infection. Pertussis is an infectious disease caused by the Borde-Zhangu pertussis or bacterium of the genus Bardetella. The infection is transmitted by airborne droplets. Particularly susceptible to pertussis infection are newborns and babies up to one year old.
Whooping cough: signs in children
The duration of the initial manifestations of the disease is about two weeks: the child has an increase in body temperature up to 38 degrees, hoarseness, coughing and runny nose appear. General condition, as a rule, does not significantly deteriorate. After two weeks, the cough becomes paroxysmal: the baby coughs, each time exerting more and more effort to cough up phlegm. The child’s face is very tense and red. It is difficult to breathe , inhalation occurs through a closed glottis and is accompanied by a loud whistling sound. The attack ends with the separation of a small amount of sputum, may be vomiting. After 3-4 weeks, the spasmodic cough gradually fades away, but a regular cough can persist for a fairly long time. Signs of pertussis in children can appear only on the 14th day after infection, it is this period of time that makes up the so-called incubation period. This should be remembered to parents whose children were in contact with sick children.
How to determine whooping cough in a child?
Difficulty in diagnosis is the erased form of the disease, when a long dry cough comes to the fore. However, in most cases, it is not difficult to diagnose whooping cough. Symptoms in children are confirmed or disproved after a series of laboratory tests, such as sputum culture to identify the nutrient medium. The number of bacteria isolated decreases every day, so the results may be different. A negative culture result does not yet indicate the absence of whooping cough. Therefore, a study of the patient's blood serum for the presence and amount of antibodies to pertussis protein can be prescribed. Modern diagnostic methods include methods of molecular biological research, with which you can detect the DNA of the pathogen in the sputum and blood.
Pertussis treatment
Children who have had severe or moderate pertussis are required to be hospitalized in the infectious diseases unit. They treat the disease with antibiotics, as well as drugs that dilute sputum and reduce swelling of the walls of the bronchi. Treatment in the hospital allows regular clinical trials (general urine and blood tests), chest x-rays, etc. In severe cases, a child with an attack of pertussis cough requires inhalation of an oxygen mixture. Such a procedure can be organized in a hospital setting.
A prolonged coughing fit, shortness of breath and, as a result, oxygen deficiency and even respiratory arrest are exactly the most common manifestations of pertussis in infants. Symptoms in children under the age of one year are the reason for immediate hospitalization. The life of a child may depend on this.