Medicine knows many infections with which a person is ill in childhood. Some of them are especially common and easily tolerated, such as chickenpox, and some infectious diseases are more severe and have more side effects. From such diseases, a person tried to invent vaccines that help to transfer them easier and without consequences or not to get sick at all. This article will examine one of these diseases called whooping cough.
Whooping cough refers to acute anthroponotic infections, it occurs as a result of ingestion of the pathogen with inhaled air. The disease is caused by pertussis bacillus, a gram-negative microorganism that is extremely unstable in the environment. The stick quickly dies when exposed to sunlight or disinfectant solutions. Pertussis in children is especially common and manifests itself as a painful cough and intoxication.
Etiology of whooping cough
As noted above, the disease causes pertussis bacillus. Infection usually occurs through contact with a sick person. Once in the human body, the wand penetrates the mucous membrane of the nasopharynx. In the process of its life, a toxin is released, and this is the cause of all clinical manifestations. The toxin irritates the respiratory tract, and also has a pathological effect on the nervous system. Spasm of the diaphragm and respiratory muscles is caused. As a result of a painful cough and muscle spasm, hypoxia of organs and tissues develops, which exacerbates the disease. Pertussis in children under one year old is especially difficult and can lead to asphyxiation and respiratory arrest. Allergies can also aggravate the course of the disease.
Manifestations of the disease
The latent period of the disease takes about seven to ten days. This is the time during which the introduction of pertussis bacillus occurs, the formation of toxin and the beginning of its pathological action. Then there is an increase in temperature, intoxication appears. The child becomes lethargic, moody. A dry cough appears, the intensity of which is gradually increasing. This period, which is called catarrhal, takes about ten days. After joins the spastic component. The cough becomes much stronger, and its attacks last longer, often ending with vomiting. Such phenomena are repeated many times a day, exhausting the child. In young children, cramps may occur amid severe coughing . The child's face is puffy and red due to coughing. Often there are hemorrhages on the skin and in the sclera of the eyes. Pertussis in children can be complicated by pneumonia, atelectasis and emphysema. These phenomena can last up to one month. Further, the disease is on the decline and a gradual recovery sets in. Those children who have been vaccinated with the pertussis vaccine tolerate the disease much more easily, and it can be erased. In this case, the disease is confirmed by immunological diagnosis and the release of the pathogen from sputum.
How to treat pertussis in children
Mild forms of the disease are treated at home. If pertussis develops in children, treatment is carried out in an inpatient setting. Infants are subject to mandatory hospitalization, as they often develop severe hypoxia and there is a need to transfer them to assisted ventilation. Pertussis in children is treated symptomatically, resorting to antibiotic therapy, for up to ten days. Prescribe antipyretic drugs, antitussive drugs of central action, if necessary, anticonvulsants. According to the scheme, the administration of a pertussis immunoglobulin is carried out for three days.
Preventive actions
In early childhood, compulsory immunization with the pertussis vaccine, which is part of DTP, is carried out. Vaccination is carried out three times. This allows you to prevent the disease of whooping cough or, in the case of an already arisen disease, it is easier to transfer it without complications.
Children who have been in contact with a sick child are subject to isolation for two weeks.