One of the most serious types of coughing of a child is convulsive cough. Vaccination prevents the illness along with its severe forms. On an annual basis, there are thousands of children who experience this medical condition, and worldwide this infection is seen as the nr. 1 cause of death from the preventable diseases through vaccination.

Table of Contents
What Is Convulsive Cough?
Convulsive cough, also known as whooping cough, is one of the most serious diseases of childhood. It`s characterized by a serious and persistent cough that is very contagious. That`s why, the child needs to be isolated so he won`t contaminate other children or babies that weren`t vaccinated.
Vaccinated can make an easy form of whooping cough. Other children who make convulsive cough can make a secondary infection, like bronchitis or pneumonia.
Causes & Risk Factors
- Causes: It`s determined by bordetella pertussis, which locates in the airways, multiplies in a large number and produces lesions in the local mucosa. These lesions determines paroxysmal cough, favoring expulsion and transmission of the infection.
- Risk factors: Infants and small children who aren`t vaccinated represent the most exposed and susceptible categories to the disease.
- Transmission pathways: Teenagers and adults represent an essential source of transmitting the pathogen agent, which can be made directly (respiratory) or indirectly by contact with objects or secretions that were recently contaminated. The infection has no seasonality, but it`s more frequently during the summer or autumn. The contagiosity of the disease is very increased in families (around 80% – 90%). The patients are contagious for around 3 or 4 weeks.
- Epidemiological data and etiopathogenic mechanisms: It`s a specific human illness that can be found all over the world. The immunity to the disease isn`t permanent!
Signs & Symptoms
The symptoms of this illness occur in 3 stages, especially in small children. Adults and older children are likely not to follow these stages.
In phase 1, the signs are similar to a cold. The child sneezes, his eyes are watery, has a runny nose, a medium cough, and sometimes makes a moderate fever. These signs last from a couple of days up to 2 weeks. This is also the most likely stage in which the illness spreads.
In phase 2, the signs improve, but the cough may get worse. It will transform from a mild and dry cough into a severe cough that can barely be controlled. The child may cough so much that it seems he may no longer be able to breathe.
In phase 3, the signs stay, but the child may feel better. However, the cough may worsen. It may appear and disappear for weeks. This stage may last longer if the child has never been vaccinated. Adults and adolescents usually experience easier symptoms compared to small children. Their severity depends whether or not the person was vaccinated and on how much time it passed since vaccination. The symptoms generally last around 6 and 10 weeks, but sometimes it may take even longer. – Click here!
Laboratory Investigations
Hemoleucograms are modified with the presence of leukocytosis, sometimes at levels that seem alarming, and absolute lymphocytosis.
Inflammatory probes are also modified. The isolation of the pathogen agent from sputum, from nasal or pharyngeal exudate is rather difficult. Direct immunoflorescenc can be made for the recognition of bacterial antigens on the sputum smear as well.
Diagnosis
Clinical diagnosis is supported by: anamnestic data (absence of vaccination in children over the respective age), clinical data (with paroxysmal cough + 2 weeks, due to a lack of impairment of the general condition, which doesn`t improve based on some serious complications), epidemiological data (contact with adults/teenagers/children who cough persistently and characteristically).
Complications
Among those you would want to avoid are encephalopathy and bronchopneumonia. The first one might be accompanied by various chronic conditions, like hearing loss or unilateral paralysis.
Treatment
For a proper diagnosis, the doctor will need to examine the child`s medical history, make a body consultation and send nasal and larynx mucus samples for analysis. These samples will be analyzed to find any possible cultures of Pertussis bacteria. Also, there may be made X-ray ultrasounds on the chest.
Convulsive cough is treated with antibiotics combined with a medication that could ease the cough. Although the antibiotic doesn`t treat the child`s cough, however, it may reduce its severity and make it less contagious. This is of big importance if there are more children in the family.
Prevention
Prevention consists in vaccination starting with ages of 2, 4, 6 months, 1 year and then at 4 – 6 years.
Children of 7 to 10 years who didn`t finalized the primary schedule will receive a dose of diftero-tetano-pertussis vaccine.
All infants need to vaccinated, including the ones diagnosed with HIV, to whom the 4th dose will be administered between 1 and 2 years. The vaccine is only delayed for people with acute febrile diseases.
Medical Recommendations
It`s essential for the parents to visit their family doctor or pediatrician.
Drugs – corticotherapy, antitermic (only if necessary), antitussive and macrolide antibiotics.
How Do We Help the Child?
The episodes of coughing can be tiring for the child and might make him feel quite sick. The presence of one of his parents is essential for him. Put him in your lap and keep him a bit bent forward. Keep near you a bowl in which he can vomit, if necessary. Be careful to clean the bowl as best possible with hot water to avoid spreading the disease.
- If he coughs and vomits often after eating, try to give him frequent a small meals, if possible, after an access of coughing.
- Try to distract his attention or make him occupied. He`ll certainly have fewer episodes of coughing if his attention is distracted.
- Don`t let him get tired or get irritated too much because this way another episode of coughing can get triggered.
- Sleep in the same room with the child, so you can be with him if an episode of coughing starts at night.
- Don`t let anyone near your child! Don`t give him antitussive drugs!
Note: If you notice a blue color during an episode of coughing of your child, call your doctor immediately! – Click this page!
Tips
First of all, you should keep in mind that you need to contact the doctor immediately as you suspect your child may experience convulsive cough.
- If your pediatrician prescribes your child a liquid antibiotic, always use a teaspoon or standard oral syringe. This way, you`ll make sure your little one will get the right dose.
- Even if the signs of the disease disappear in 2 or 3 days, it`s essential to continue the administration of the drug to the child the entire time for which it was prescribed.
- Interrupting the treatment with antibiotics before the complete eradication of the germs may stimulate the occurrence of resistant strains to that particular treatment.
18 Comments
best over the counter ed pills
buy cialis free shipping tadalafil without a doctor’s prescription
generic ivermectin stromectol order online
stromectol xr stromectol over the counter
https://stromectolgf.online/# stromectol cvs
buy imitrex 50mg pills – sumatriptan 50mg pills sumatriptan online buy
buy stromectol without prescription Outlook Prognosis Duchenne muscular dystrophy leads to quickly worsening disability.
Türkiye Haberleri
Our data showed that almost all NG2 cells expressed Olig2 throughout the P8 CNS, including dorsal cortex, ventral cortex, and hippocampus, with 99 zithromax tripac
Comparatif Levitra A, Experimental design 56 days 8 weeks after tamoxifen injections, Ang II minipumps were implanted in 6 SM Tfam and 10 SM Tfam male mice
PMID 8094898 Review where to buy viagra
31 years were analyzed to 1 determine the age and sex specific incidence of stroke and stroke subtypes among women and men aged 65 years and older, 2 compare baseline characteristics in women and men with and without incident stroke to identify bivariate associations with stroke incidence, and 3 determine the strength and independence of these risk factors in multivariate analysis viagra blue pills
The BLN animals, with greater adiposity and disrupted circadian rhythm, showed decreased Verrucomicrobia and increased Proteobacteria, Tenericutes and Deferribacteres compared to the BLD group accutane acne treatment
buy clomid Smaller dogs tend to breathe slightly faster, while large dogs breathe more slowly
enhance9 fincar finasteride Top Chinese refiner Sinopec Corp s return to large volume diesel exports in the fourth quarter willlikely continue into the new year, as supply swells withadditional refining capacity while demand growth remains weak, industry sources said buy zithromax online no prescription Innovative and expensive drugs often appear to be the main cost drivers in cancer treatment, particularly for MBC
Macrophages rapidly internalize exogenous spherical nanoparticles, shortening their circulation time, and preventing their accumulation in the site of action clomid fast shipping to sweden
cialis super active Background Studies of aromatase inhibitors AI vs
nolvadex 10mg tablet Adjuvant chemotherapy refers to the use of drugs to kill cancer cells that may be present in the body, but outside of the breast