Whooping cough is a Whopper!

Flash back to Labor Day weekend 2008. About 2 dozen of my friends and neighbors (that I know of) were sick sick sick, including 2 or three elementary-age children.

My daughter didn't visit her father that weekend. He and I talked about it and decided that it was best for her to stay home with me instead of exposing his then-newborn son to what was obviously some random virus.

I didn't take her to see her doctor because I was able to keep her fever controlled with medicine and cool cloths, and because there is not much one can do for a virus except let it run its course. (Antibiotics are for bacterial infections only. Over-use leads to antibiotic resistance or even the developing of antibiotic allergies.)

She was fever-free by the following Monday morning (Labor Day). So back to school she went.

I and at least 3 other adults stayed sick, though. Really, really sick.

In the second or third week of September, I went to my doctor, and after ruling out strep, etc., he said that it was as suspected when I described how it swept through the complex and how the kids got better but a few of the adults did not, combined with my symptoms -- I had pertussis. Whooping cough! I thought, "Isn't that a childhood disease?!?"

I asked my doctor if I should take my daughter to her pediatrician, and my doc explained that in vaccinated children, whooping cough lasts about 5 days and is contagious during that time, but then goes away. The contagious period in adults with whooping cough also lasts about 5 days. She had all her DTAP shots, and is only seven, so he said there really was no reason to take her to her doctor at that point.

In infants (who have not been immunized against it), and adults who had not heard they need a booster (like me!), and in the elderly, pertussis is much worse.

True to his prediction, I suffered the symptoms a total of 8 weeks. Mild whooping cough symptoms linger another 6-8 months!

So, heads up, parents!

Pertussis (whooping cough) is not just some childhood disease that has not been a problem since the beginning of last century. It still takes lives!

Babies may not be totally in the clear from being infected by the virus until their 3rd or 4th dose. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) recommends a booster shot for anyone between the ages of 11 and 64. Parents are often the source of infant cases of whooping cough.

Don't know what whooping cough sounds like? You can hear it at DoItForYourBaby.com