14 Most Common Symptoms of Pertussis

Pertussis is also more commonly known as whooping cough, and it still affects a handful of people across the world every year. Even though most people receive their vaccinations against whooping cough when they’re children. Even if you have been vaccinated against pertussis, you can still contract the condition if you come into contact with someone who has it – especially if your immune system is compromised when it happens.

If you pick up whooping cough, medical attention at the right time is vital. If you don’t see your doctor have the condition treated, it’s likely that you could infect someone else around you with the condition, and this can lead to an outbreak in a matter of hours as the disease jumps from person to person.

Here are 8 most common symptoms of whooping cough that can help if you think you might have come into contact with the condition.

1. A Whooping Cough

The condition that we know today as whooping cough derives its name from one of the most characteristic symptoms associated with the condition. If you have contracted whooping cough, constant coughing isn’t the only symptom that you’ll experience – you’ll also note a wheezing sound when breathing in (or out) after coughing, and this usually isn’t characteristic of any other conditions that cause coughing.

The wheeze that goes together with pertussis is often how doctors preliminarily diagnose whooping cough, and it’s usually treated with the addition of cough-suppressing medications and antibiotics to treat both the infection and the cough as well as the other symptoms associated with whooping cough (which likely includes fever, vomiting, and fatigue).

If you’ve developed whooping cough, step one is an appointment with your doctor in order to establish the root cause and treat the condition properly. Never avoid seeing your doctor with a condition like whooping cough: It can be highly contagious.