Transmitting Whooping Cough
The whooping cough bacteria are spread through direct contact with an infected person's respiratory secretions. Whooping cough can be passed either through the air or by touching a contaminated surface.
Whooping cough is a highly contagious infection. A person is most likely to transmit the bacteria that cause pertussis when they are experiencing symptoms, especially during the first three weeks of
whooping cough symptoms.
Whooping Cough Incubation Period
When a person is infected with Bordetella pertussis, the bacteria begin multiplying within the lungs. The period between infection and the onset of whooping cough symptoms is called the incubation period. The whooping cough incubation period is commonly 7 to 10 days, with a range of 4 to 21 days, and rarely may be as long as 42 days.
Symptoms of Whooping Cough
Once whooping cough symptoms begin, there are generally three stages of the illness.
During the first stage, common symptoms of whooping cough are like a cold or flu and can include:
- Sneezing
- Runny nose
- Nasal congestion
- Slight fever
- Dry cough that may get worse at night.
Unlike a cold, the symptoms of whooping cough stick around, and within two weeks, the symptoms get worse. Common symptoms of whooping cough during the next stage can include:
- Fits of coughing that seem to go on and on
- Severe coughing spells that may end in a "whooping" sound when the infected person inhales
- Severe coughing that leads to vomiting, which may make it difficult for a person to eat or drink
- Skin turning blue during coughing episodes.
In the last stage, whooping cough symptoms gradually improve, disappearing within two to three weeks. However, fits of coughing often return with other respiratory infections for many months after the symptoms of whooping cough improve.
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