Cough. We hear it every day and we see people do it often. In our morning walks for the bus ride, to the subway station, in the cafeteria, in the office, all the way to our way back home, we never fail to take notice of it. A lot of people all over the world are suffering from cough. Infants, toddlers, teenagers, young adults, and grown ups alike all get cough more than once or twice in their lifetime. Cough may come along with cold or fever. It can be shallow or deep and at times it is painful. It may last for a couple of days or weeks, or even months. No matter where we go, no matter where we set our sight at, we always see a person or two covering their mouths with their closed fist then exhuming large amount of air from their chests that often comes with a thundering sound.



What is sad to note is that the commonality of cough has made many of us so tolerant about it. Most of us easily dismiss a cough as something not serious and thus, unnecessary to pay attention to. Many of us think that cough is but a minute disturbance in our respiratory system. Others think of it as a natural reaction to a virus-infested stimulus. Most of us are guilty in regarding cough as just a minor infraction that does not need any medical treatment at all. We are all guilty of thinking that by merely resting and drinking a glass or two of a citrus-fruit juice we can already get rid of cough. It is so unfortunate that most of us do not realize that cough or coughing is something that needs urgent attention. It is very unfortunate that some cases reach extreme levels when they could have been promptly prevented if only we paid enough attention to that simple cough. It is a saddening fact that simple cough cases often lead to costly hospital bills and long-term medications due to complications. It is a saddening fact that simple cases of cough sometimes lead to serious health matters or even total degradation. What most of us do not know is that there exists a kind of cough that can be fatal. This kind of cough shows no great difference from the ordinary cough that we know, but its harmfulness is way higher and deadlier. This fatal cough is called Pertussis.

Known as pertussis in clinical terms, the lay man's term for this cough is whooping cough. The word whooping is used primarily as a description to the whooping sound that people infected with Pertussis produce when they cough. Pertussis is an infectious disease caused by species B. pertussis and B. parapertussis of the bacterium Bordetella. This infectious disease is highly contagious and can be easily transmitted upon being exposed to air discharges of infected people. But most commonly inflicted with Pertussis are infants below the age of one. Most commonly found in developing countries, Pertussis claims about 300,000 lives and each year. World wide annual infection rate is at 30 to 50 million cases. In United States alone, about 5,000 to 7,000 Americans are getting infected each year. What is alarming is the fact that Pertussis incidence rate is unabatedly increasing each year. In 2002, the World Health Organization ranked Pertussis as the seventh infectious disease that claimed most lives. Despite WHO's announcement, it is still unfortunate to admit that most of us remain unaware of this deadly, contagious disease.

Each stage of the disease presents different set of symptoms. As one stage progress to a higher one, the severity and threat of Pertussis also increases. The first stage is called the catarrhal stage. Symptoms seen under catarrhal stage are sneezing, runny nose, and mild cough. This stage, if untreated, will last for a maximum of two weeks before elevating to the second stage or the paroxysmal stage. In the second stage, symptoms include successive rapid coughs, whooping sound in the chest while inhaling, vomiting, and cyanotic (blue coloring) skin. The third stage, also known as convalescent stage, has the same symptoms as that of the second stage. However, the severity is higher at the third stage.

Antibiotic treatments like clarithromycin, erythromycin, and others are more effective when Pertussis is diagnosed at an early stage or at the very least before the case elevates to the second stage. So it is highly recommended that all of us to immediately seek medical diagnosis to determine whether the seemingly ordinary cough we have is Pertussis or not. For Pertussis prevention among infants, parents are highly advised to have their kids immunized with Pertussis vaccine.