Whooping cough mostly affects adults

Christiane Fux studied journalism and psychology in Hamburg. The experienced medical editor has been writing magazine articles, news and factual texts on all conceivable health topics since 2001. In addition to her work for, Christiane Fux is also active in prose. Her first crime novel was published in 2012, and she also writes, designs and publishes her own crime plays.

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Whooping cough (pertussis) has long been considered a childhood disease. But since most children have been vaccinated, almost two-thirds of the cases have occurred in adolescents or adults. They particularly endanger infants who have not yet been vaccinated.

The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) recorded more than 103,000 whooping cough cases between 2001 and 2017. Only around 27,000 of these concerned children and adolescents under the age of 15.

Whooping cough is often not recognized

The problem is that whooping cough is often milder in adults and is therefore often not recognized. It then manifests itself more in the form of a long-lasting, agonizing cough, which is often misinterpreted as ordinary bronchitis. Since whooping cough is very contagious, the sick infect many unprotected people.

The sick are particularly dangerous for babies who have not yet been vaccinated - the pertussis vaccination is only possible after they are two months old. Around 71 percent of the babies with whooping cough recorded by the RKI had to be hospitalized.

The babies suffer from convulsive coughing fits up to attacks of suffocation. In addition, they often develop pneumonia or otitis media.

Experts therefore advise all people who deal with infants to get vaccinated against whooping cough in good time to protect their children. This applies to expectant mothers and others who take care of the children - if possible, four weeks before the birth.In addition, everyone who deals with infants at work should be vaccinated.

Whooping cough is not a trivial matter

Even in adults there are definitely severe courses - a quarter of patients struggle with complications. These include, for example, seizures and a cough-induced insufficient blood flow in the brain with brief loss of consciousness. Some coughing attacks are so severe that they break ribs.

Whooping cough vaccination

The Standing Vaccination Commission (STIKO) at the Robert Koch Institute recommends a pertussis vaccination for all children from the age of two months. After a total of four vaccine doses, the basic immunization is complete. In the further course, the whooping cough vaccination should be refreshed several times.

The STIKO recommends adults a single vaccination in combination with tetanus and diphtheria.

This also applies to people who have already been through a whooping cough infection. After ten to twenty years, the natural immunization has waned and you can get sick again.

Whooping cough usually begins like a harmless cold. This is followed by a phase with severe coughing attacks with shortness of breath and vomiting and the typical wheezing noise. This stage can last up to six weeks.

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