Whooping cough in children: symptoms and treatment, prevention

2024 Author: Priscilla Miln | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 00:21

An acute infectious disease that is quite common in children is whooping cough. The first symptoms of the disease should be known to all modern parents, since pathology requires the provision of qualified medical care to the baby. The disease is transmitted by airborne droplets. You can suspect it by a characteristic cough, spasms. In recent years, the frequency of diagnosing whooping cough has become greater than before. Doctors explain this by the reluctance of parents to vaccinate their child. Often the recusals are completely unreasonable.

Where did the trouble come from?

Before you look for photos of whooping cough in children (the symptoms and treatment of this disease is not an easy topic), you should understand what provokes the problem. Knowing where the infection comes from, you can successfully carry out prevention, which means that the child will not have to survive this serious illness. You can get it from an already sick individual. Often this happens upon contact with a person who carries whooping cough in an erased form, without symptoms, in a mild form. The highest chances of becoming infected by contact with the patient in the first days of infection, that is, at the very moment when it is most difficult to suspect and identify the disease.

If the vaccination was not done on time, the susceptibility of an infectious agent in childhood tends to one hundred percent, which means that a single contact with the patient is enough to get infected. Analyzing the topic of symptoms, treatment, prevention of whooping cough in children, considering the features of the course and consequences of the disease, one should remember the formation of immunity after the disease has been transferred once. It was previously thought that it appears persistent, for life, but specialized studies conducted recently have shaken the confidence of doctors. The final official conclusion on this issue has not yet been clarified. At the same time, it is believed that the likelihood of a relapse, as well as a primary one after a vaccine, is very low. If this does happen, the disease is mild.

How to notice?

Immediately after contact with an infected individual, a person becomes ill, but at first the pathology does not manifest itself. This period is called the incubation period. Its duration varies greatly - some have only a couple of days, others up to twenty. Most often, the duration is about a week, after which pronounced symptoms can be observed. How does whooping cough manifest in children? The most typical nuance is the cyclical development of the disease. Doctors distinguish three consecutive steps - catarrhal, spasms,resolution.

It all starts with the catarrhal stage. Duration - from a week to two, sometimes - another week more if a child who has previously been vaccinated has fallen ill. The symptoms of whooping cough in children in this phase are implicit, the condition is generally satisfactory, the baby feels fine. Subfebrile temperature is possible, but more often it is normal. The only factor indicating the presence of an infectious agent is an unproductive cough, that is, a constant cough that is not accompanied by discharge of secretions. Sometimes the cough becomes obsessive. To a greater extent, this is characteristic of the evening time, night. The symptom is stubborn, becoming stronger over time, and the treatment does not show the proper result.

Development of disease

Without proper treatment, the stage becomes spasmodic. The most pronounced symptom of whooping cough in children at this point is a cough with spasms. The child is suffering from seizures. This is the height of pathology. It is at this step that complications often arise. Whooping cough is most dangerous for very young children - up to one year of age. It is not difficult to identify the disease, since the cough is characteristic - this is not characteristic of other diseases. On exhalation, the child is shaken by numerous shocks, following one after another. Then there is a reprise, that is, an inhalation, accompanied by a whistle, and on exhalation, a coughing fit begins again. Sometimes the duration of a coughing fit is a few minutes. Upon completion, sputum discharge is observed - white or transparent. At the end of an attack, oftenvomits. There is a possibility of uncontrolled stool, urination.

The symptoms of whooping cough in children include the appearance of the patient at the time of coughing. The tongue reflexively protrudes forward, it is clear that it is reddened, puffy. With the progress of the disease, the organ acquires a bluish tint, the lips turn blue, involuntary copious tearing is noticeable. Wreaths swell on the neck, sweat is actively released. Overvoltage can cause hemorrhage in the organs of vision, skin, on the body in the upper half. This is noticeable by small reddish spots on the skin. Small blood vessels burst in the whites of the eyes.

Important to know

The described symptoms of whooping cough in children last from half a month to a month. In the absence of complications outside the coughing attack, the child feels completely normal, there is no fever, appetite is normal, the baby is active, interested in games, curious - in a word, behaves completely normally.

If the pathology is severe, it is especially important to approach the treatment correctly. Symptoms of whooping cough in children at the stage of spasms can occur up to three dozen times in 24 hours, or even more. The child cannot sleep normally, his appetite suffers, and the likelihood of complications is increased. Even outside the coughing attack, it is noticeable that the baby is unwell - the face swells, the skin, sclera show traces of hemorrhages.

Final stage

If the correct treatment was carried out, the symptoms of whooping cough in children gradually begin to fade away, coughing attacks are not so pronounced, and theirduration gets shorter. Time intervals between seizures increase. The duration of this step is up to two months. In total, the disease lasts from a quarter of a year or more. A third of that time, the child suffers from severe, excruciating seizures.

Not so obvious

Possible symptoms of whooping cough in vaccinated children, as well as those who have recovered from this disease according to the scheme described above. Pathology develops in an erased form, it is easily tolerated. Attacks are not observed, but for a long time a weak unproductive cough worries. Such a symptom manifests itself for a month, often for an even longer period.

Parawhooping cough differs by similar manifestations. This is a disease related to whooping cough, provoked by another pathogen of a similar nature. Like the symptoms of whooping cough in children 2 years old (and at a different age), the manifestations of parapertussis include a prolonged cough, but in the second case, attacks are tolerated by patients somewhat easier. Parapertussis is extremely unlikely to be a source of complications.

What to fear?

If the symptoms of whooping cough in children under one year old do not cause timely seeking qualified help, there is a possibility of encephalopathy. At an older age, the risk of such a complication is also present, but it is more characteristic of severe forms of the disease. Perhaps encephalopathy is the most problematic consequence of whooping cough. The term refers to such damage to the brain, which is provoked by insufficient supply of blood, oxygen to organic tissues onbackground of coughing attacks. Such a deterioration can be suspected if the patient has convulsive conditions, the child loses consciousness. In addition, the disease can cause the development of pneumonia, bronchitis, if infection with pathological bacteria, viruses occurs. There is a risk of spontaneous pneumothorax due to coughing fits.

Symptoms of whooping cough in children 3 years old (and at other ages) with complications of a bacterial, viral nature include fever, fever. The child continues to cough, becomes lethargic, loses appetite - this is how poisoning of the body with the waste products of pathological bacteria manifests itself. There is shortness of breath.

Diagnosis

To understand what and how to treat, the symptoms of whooping cough in children should first be checked by a qualified doctor. Examining the patient, collecting information about his condition, the doctor usually formulates a diagnosis without difficulty, since an attack of coughing is usually enough for this. If the doctor sees a coughing attack with his own eyes, the diagnosis will be made immediately, but this situation is unlikely, since more often the disease attacks in the evening and at night. The main task of parents at the reception is to pay special attention of the specialist to the cough, in paints, to describe in as much detail as possible exactly how the disease manifests itself. It is common to think that whooping cough is extremely rare, because most children have received the vaccine, but this is nothing more than a stereotype. In practice, the disease is quite common, as an increasing number of parents refuse to vaccinate their children. Parents shouldtake this into account, focusing the doctor's attention on the baby's he alth problems.

If it was possible to convince the doctor that the cause may be whooping cough, the doctor sends for special studies. Organic fluids are taken for the laboratory, blood is checked for an increased concentration of leukocytes, a smear of mucus is obtained from the back of the throat to check for bacteria. Predominantly, smear results are false negative. You can easily notice bacteria at the catarrhal step, but at this stage the disease is almost never detected. Another way to clarify the patient's condition is serological, when blood is taken to detect specific antibodies. To do this, you need to get samples from a vein. This technique is the most accurate, but its implementation is quite expensive, so few hospitals have the appropriate equipment.

How to treat?

If the case is mild or moderate in severity, the child is treated at home, with regular visits to the doctor to monitor the results. If a baby under one year of age falls ill or the pathology develops in a severe form, urgent hospitalization is necessary in order to prevent complications. The first step that adults should take is to ensure that the baby can breathe normally. For this house, all rooms are ventilated, the child is allowed to walk every day if the temperature is not lower than -10 and not higher than +25. Cough attacks are not a reason to refuse to spend time on the street. True, contact with other children should be avoided, sincetoo high a possibility of transmitting an infectious agent. Active pastime should be avoided whenever possible, as this increases the risk of a coughing fit. The child cannot be scolded, punished, but it will have to be protected from worries, stress, because crying will immediately provoke a cough.

For a speedy recovery, you should drink warm, eat a light program, avoiding irritating mucous products. Everything spicy, spicy, fatty, smoked, s alty is excluded. During the period of illness, honey, chocolate, nuts are contraindicated. It will be impossible to gnaw croutons.

Drugs: what will help?

Properly selected drug treatment is needed if symptoms of whooping cough are observed in children. The photo below shows the packaging of one of the popular drugs often prescribed by doctors for such a diagnosis - Sumamed. This tool belongs to the number of macrolide antibiotics. A good alternative is Wilprafen. The choice of a specific option remains with the attending physician. It is important to take into account the individual characteristics of the organism. True, there is one feature associated with the treatment of whooping cough symptoms. The photo shows a drug that shows the maximum result in the catarrhal period - like all other antimicrobials. And this stage, as mentioned above, does not manifest itself as pronounced symptoms, so it is extremely difficult to suspect that such therapy is already needed. But in the subsequent stages, it makes no sense to use macrolides, there will be no benefit from them, but you can harm the child's body - the drugs weaken the immune system, which makes the baby less resistant to secondary bacterialinfection.

For whooping cough, a course of anti-cough medicines can be recommended, but their effectiveness is quite low, it is extremely rare to stop spasms. You can use mucolytic expectorants - this increases the patency of the bronchi, reduces the risk of complications. The disease lasts for a long time, which makes it necessary to replace drugs every two weeks, otherwise addiction is possible. Occasionally, drugs are prescribed to eliminate bronchospasm, but they also show only a weak effect. The appointment is made only if there are additional indications for this.

What else will help?

Antihistamines can relieve some of whooping cough. The most popular names are Zirtek, Claritin. You can take various safe sedatives on plant components - motherwort, valerian rhizome. If the child is being treated in a hospital, more powerful sedatives are often prescribed, as well as drugs that prevent a convulsive state. In severe cases, oxygen therapy is indicated.

How to warn?

As with any disease, the best treatment for whooping cough is effective prevention. The most productive option is vaccination. In our country, at present, such an inoculation is done without fail for everyone. The exception is families in which the parents deliberately refused to undergo the procedure for the child. In the absence of a timely delivered vaccine, the likelihoodget infected is exceptionally high. This is most typical for active, social children, often in contact with other people. As the number of refusals to vaccinate has increased recently, the number of diagnosed cases of the disease has also risen sharply, which means that the likelihood of becoming infected is more and more.

If the vaccine is correctly administered to a he althy child, there will be no complications, the drug is considered safe, has passed many tests, and its reliability has been confirmed by many years of practice. Some contraindications to such injections are known. If they are taken into account, the procedure does not initiate any negative consequences. As a rule, shortly after the introduction of the composition, the temperature rises, and the injection site is disturbed by mild pain - this is the norm. The chance of such a negative response of the body is minimal if you use the most modern purified medicines. Vaccination cannot provoke whooping cough, and the opinion that this is observed in practice is just a myth. A vaccine is a drug specially developed in a clinical setting, it does not contain live bacteria, so it is impossible to get sick.

Vaccination is carried out according to the plan, included in the special national calendar of mandatory vaccinations. Getting an injection is completely free, available to everyone and everyone. Any citizen of the country has the right to such an injection. Do not neglect this measure, because the prevention of whooping cough is much easier than its treatment.