Pertussis is an acute infectiousdisease. The source of infection is only a person who has contracted this disease, or a healthy carrier. Extraordinary infectiousness is represented by patients at the initial stage of the disease, in the so-called catarrhal period. The contact of a healthy person with an infection carrier in 9 out of 10 cases leads to infection. Infection occurs through the air. Pertussis is a disease, usually a child's preschool period.
Lifetime immunity is not given eitheranti-ulcers vaccinations, not already suffering pertussis. Treatment in case of repeated infection will be required again. However, as you grow up, the risk of contracting pertussis is reduced - only in one case of 20 whooping cough affects an adult.
Stages of the disease includeThe incubation period, which can last from 2 days to 2 weeks. It was at that time that the unsuspecting patient was able to spread the infection among people from the circle of his communication. Diagnosis of whooping cough begins by recognizing the nature of the cough. And the disease passes from the stage of latent flow to the development of characteristic symptoms. Having recognized whooping cough, treatment begins with isolation of the patient and alleviation of his condition.
Signs of pertussis include:general poor health, weakness, a small runny nose and cough. The patient's body temperature is slightly increased. Such signs make one think that the person has a common cold. However, as the disease develops, the cough begins to increase, moving to the end of the second week in the spasmodic. Ill children become irritable, begin to be capricious. At the stage of the development of the disease, cough is a series of coughing tremors, which alternate with deep whistling breaths. Cyclicality of coughing attacks reaches 15. At the end of an attack of cough, discharge of viscous sputum, sometimes with vomiting, follows. The behavior of the child during an attack is irritated. The face acquires a cyanotic appearance, the veins become strained from tension, during a coughing attack, bruises of the tongue are often injured, and even a breath can be stopped. In view of the danger of symptoms characterizing whooping cough, the treatment of the child at home is not always possible (especially if the crumb has not yet turned a year old). Such attacks can last for 3-4 weeks, then coughing desires become weaker and less frequent, and then disappear altogether. During 2-3 weeks, it is possible to keep a small ordinary cough (cough after physical exertion and at times of excitement can sometimes last up to several months). In adults, the course of the disease is slightly different: cough attacks are rare, they may not be at all, and the infection manifests itself in signs of protracted bronchitis, accompanied by a strong, non-road cough. No difference from normal and body temperature, which happens with such a disease as whooping cough. Treatment at adults proceeds, as a rule, at home. Children under one year old, as well as severely ill people are subject to urgent hospitalization. In uncomplicated cases, and this is how most often pertussis is carried, treatment is conducted at home.
The question of how to treat whooping cough is under the supervision of a specialist doctor, since there are no strictly defined medicines that could cure this ailment. However, it is possible to facilitate the course of the disease.
The role of antibiotics, as a rule, is important in thethe beginning of the disease. Reception of antibiotics in the period of attacks of a cough does not bring any improvement. Although the causative agent of whooping cough shows sensitivity to the most different antibacterial preparations, most often doctors recommend erythromycin or azithromycin. Also a good effect is achieved with the help of levomycitin and tetracycline. However, levomycetin is prescribed reluctantly due to the greater toxicity of the drug compared to other antibiotics. Tetracycline is not suitable for treating children who are not yet 8 years old.
For a favorable outcome of the disease, the presence of fresh air in the room is especially important, calm, not provoking spasms, the situation, adherence to the regime of the day and the intake of vitamins.
