Whooping cough is a disease that occurs due to the penetration of a bacterial pathogen into the body by airborne droplets.
What can a whooping cough test show? In children with whooping cough, the level of leukocytes in the blood increases (2-7x109/l), and the leukocyte formula contains mainly lymphocytes. As the disease worsens, the level of leukocytes increases. In children with a weakened immune system, vaccinated and those who have unexpressed forms of whooping cough, there are no fluctuations in the analysis. The erythrocyte sedimentation rate is moderate or slightly low. Deviations in the blood picture are observed only in the catarrhal stage of the disease.
Symptoms of whooping cough in children
What are the symptoms of whooping cough? How does this disease progress? At the initial stage, the disease in children develops without any specific manifestations. Body temperature can rise to 38 degrees, there is a runny nose, a rare and dry cough. During this period of the disease, whooping cough is most dangerous for the surrounding people. In general, the symptoms are similar to acute respiratory illness. Whooping cough at this timereproduces as actively as possible, while it releases a toxin.
At the next stage of the disease, which occurs after 2 weeks, the child's condition becomes much worse. There is a special spasmodic cough. Each such push of a cough is accompanied by a whistle and a deep breath. With such a cough, the child can strongly protrude the tongue, damaging it. The face and neck area may turn blue, sometimes there are respiratory arrests. At the end of the attack, sputum is released, and sometimes vomit. Based on the complexity of the disease, the number of attacks can reach up to 50 per day.
After 20-30 days, the disease transforms into the next stage. Spasmodic cough is replaced by a regular cough. The child feels much better, the temperature drops and appetite returns. This stage continues up to 3 weeks.
How does whooping cough manifest in adults? How does this unpleasant disease proceed? Symptoms in adults are similar to those in children, with the only difference being that there are no boundaries between the stages of the disease. At the same time, the cough is very pronounced, creasing, increasing at night.
Characteristics of whooping cough in young children
Incubation and preconvulsive time reduced to 1-2 days, and convulsive cough time increased to 6-8 weeks.
In newborns, instead of the usual bouts of coughing, equivalent symptoms are observed: sneezing, unreasonable crying, screaming. Hemorrhagic disorders are diagnosed: bleeding in the central nervous system, sometimes in the outer dense membrane of the eye and skincovers. The condition of the patients during the period between periods worsened: the children experience a breakdown, the skills that were developed before the disease process are lost. Often there are special exacerbations, which can sometimes be life-threatening in nature, among them: apnea, deviations from the normal blood flow of the brain. Interruptions in breathing, up to a temporary stop, can occur without coughing attacks, for example, during sleep, or after eating. Among nonspecific exacerbations, pneumonia is most often diagnosed. Deaths have been reported.
Characteristic features of whooping cough in vaccinated children
Children who are vaccinated against whooping cough have a chance of getting sick due to weak immunity or worsening of its tension. In most cases, simple and moderate forms of the disease are diagnosed, severe ones are not typical. Special complications occur very rarely, and at the same time they do not pose a threat to life, so lethal cases do not occur. For the most part, atypical types of whooping cough are encountered. The incubation and preconvulsive periods increase up to 2 weeks, and the spasmodic cough cycle decreases to 2 weeks.
Disease diagnosis
What test for whooping cough should I take? In order to detect possible exacerbations, a general urine test and a biochemical blood test are done. In the case of a normal course of the disease, they do not change.
General sputum analysis makes it possible to exclude bronchial asthma, tuberculosis and influenza. With whooping cough, the sputum is mucous, with the appearance of concomitant pneumoniait turns into mucopurulent or purulent.
The bacteriological method of analysis - the cultivation of microorganisms on nutrient media - is of great benefit to the doctor in determining the diagnosis, especially at the initial stages of the disease. For a long time, the “cough plates” method recommended by Mauritzen was practiced to determine whooping cough bacteria. At the time of the next attack of coughing, an open Petri dish with a nutrient medium is placed at a distance of 5-8 cm from the child. Microscopic droplets of mucus, in which the whooping cough bacterium is located, fly out of the mouth and settle on it. After 2-4 days, based on the grown culture, a diagnosis is made. This type of diagnosis has one drawback - it is practically not effective in young children who do not cough well enough, and also who do not cough.
There is a relatively recent method for finding the cause of whooping cough - culture of bacteria from the nasopharynx and from under the tongue. This method of diagnosis is considered the most effective, but 4-5 weeks after the onset of the disease, it makes no sense to carry it out, because the pathogen cannot be isolated. Premature use of antibiotics also reduces the chances of isolating whooping cough.
Preparatory stage before the study
The main symptom of whooping cough is considered to be acute attacks of choking cough, which is sometimes accompanied by vomiting, in especially severe cases, such an attack is quite easy to cause, for example, at the time of taking a sample for examination. At such moments, mothersyou need to be prepared that the child may need help.
The preparatory process is that it is most effective to take a smear for analysis at an early time, because large volumes of mucus are formed overnight, in which there is a huge concentration of microorganisms. It is best to test for whooping cough before breakfast and do not brush your teeth. Otherwise, a large proportion of sputum will be lost.
Deciphering the analysis for whooping cough
The analysis is carried out in conjunction with the results of establishing antibodies of other classes (IgM, IgA)
| Bordetella pertussis (Bordet-Jangou bacterium) | |||
| IgG | IgM | IgA | Transcript of results |
| Negative | Negative | Negative | Exciter missing |
| Negative or positive | Negative | Negative or positive | Indicates infection |
| Negative or positive | Negative | Positive | Speaking of recent presence of infection |
| Positive | Negative | Negative | Speaks of a recent or past infection, orprevious immunizations |
Where can I get tested for whooping cough?
Where to get tested for whooping cough? This type of research is carried out in clinical laboratories and diagnostic centers. Usually they exist at the place of residence. The necessary examination and the place of its conduct is determined by the doctor.
The type of whooping cough test is determined based on symptoms, course of illness, and age categories of patients.
Doctors are asked to give blood for whooping cough in the first place, as this type of analysis carries a lot of information.
Possible Complications
Special ones include:
- pulmonary emphysema;
- emphysema of mediastinum and subcutaneous cells;
- atelectasis;
- pertussis pneumonia;
- interruptions in respiratory rate (suspension of breathing - apnea up to 30 seconds, stops - apnea over 30 seconds);
- deterioration of blood flow in the brain;
- hemorrhages (from the nose, posterior pharynx, bronchi, external auditory pathway; into the skin and mucous membranes, sclera and retina, brain and spinal cord);
- occurrence of umbilical or inguinal hernia;
- prolapse of the rectal mucosa;
- damage to the eardrum and diaphragm.
Simply the most common complications arising from the accumulation of minor bacterial flora include:
- pneumonia;
- bronchitis;
- angina;
- lymphadenitis;
- otitis media
Whooping cough treatment
The treatment process is carried out only permanently. Newborns are tried to be placed in a quiet dimly lit room to minimize irritation factors, as they can provoke an exacerbation in the form of a coughing fit. Older children with simple forms of the disease do not need bed rest.
Particular attention is paid to nutrition, feeding frequent small portions. Newborn children need to pump out mucus from the pharynx in a timely manner. For older children, oxygen therapy is widely practiced.
Antibiotics are used for children at an early age with various severe forms of the disease. At the catarrhal stage, the use of "Erythromycin" is preferred.
Specific gamma globulin for whooping cough is often used, injected intramuscularly at 3 ml every day for 3 days.
Cough sedatives are rarely used, they are approached with extreme caution, as the effectiveness of such drugs is considered doubtful. It is necessary to avoid the use of such products as mustard plasters and banks, which can provoke coughing fits.
Whooping cough vaccine
Vaccination schedule is established by the national vaccination calendar. Activation of immunity from pertussis with the help of DTP ("Tetracoc", "Infanrix") - carried out at 3, 4 and 5 months. Thereafter, a second whooping cough vaccination is given at 18 months.
DTP is injected into a muscle, for children under 1.5 years old in the front outer thigh, and for children older than thatage - in the deltoid muscle. Following the introduction of such drugs, more often due to injections of whole cell vaccines, during the first 3 days, the child may develop a protective reaction to the vaccine, both local and general. In 8-9 cases out of 10, such a process can be observed already a few hours after the injection. These reactions are considered normal natural occurrences and are not considered complications.
Preventive and therapeutic measures
People with whooping cough should certainly be isolated for 25 days from the moment of infection, while the treatment should be rational and aimed strictly at eliminating the causes of the onset of the disease.
Both vaccinated and unvaccinated contact children are quarantined for 2 weeks from the start of isolation of the patient. The time of visiting children is strictly limited, the schedules of classes and walks are changing.
To detect whooping cough at an early stage, daily medical examinations of children and adults and a one-time bacterial examination are carried out in the whooping cough zone.
How to avoid a disease like whooping cough? The immune system must be strong, it must be constantly strengthened, then it will be possible to avoid many diseases, not only whooping cough. And of course, do not forget about vaccination.
In order to find and eliminate the site of whooping cough, for all contact children and adults, it is recommended to take "Erythromycin", "Rulid" or "Sumamed" for one week at the right age dosage.
Contact newborns under 1 year of age and notvaccinated (up to 2 years old) are invited to administer donor immunoglobulin - 2-4 doses (1-2 doses every other day).
