When a child starts coughing, parents immediately have cause for concern for his health. If the baby begins to show pertussis attacks, when he begins to cough so much that he can not even inhale - there is already a panic nearby. Find out what signs characterize this ailment so that you can recognize it in time.
What is whooping cough and its symptoms
This disease occurs when a pertussis enters the child's body. This microbe inside the human body can live and reproduce only in the ciliated epithelium, which is covered from the inside with bronchi and trachea. Infection irritates these villi that cover the internal surface of the respiratory tract, which is why signs of whooping cough appear: a strong paroxysmal cough and discharge of a large amount of viscous, thick mucus.
The correct diagnosis of this infectious disease is very important in the incubation period, when the pathogen only penetrated the body and began to multiply. If the disease is diagnosed in time and an adequate treatment with antibiotics is started, then the infection can be quickly taken under control, and the baby can not suffocate for several weeks with seizures. For this reason, do not neglect a timely visit to the doctor. Only an experienced specialist is able to put an accurate diagnosis on the basis of laboratory tests and the sound of cough, and monitor the treatment.
Symptoms of whooping cough in a child
During this illness, four consecutive periods are identified: incubation, catarrhal, spasmodic and resolution. It is necessary to know that in the first two stages of development this illness is seriously diagnosed. Even when the pertussis microbe in the children's body has already infiltrated, the signs of whooping cough in the child have not yet manifested. The baby himself is already a carrier of infection, infecting his environment, for example, in a kindergarten.
The catarrhal period of whooping cough
Often the onset of this illness is taken for an ordinary cold: the baby dryly coughs, has a slight runny nose, and body temperature either does not rise at all, or rises slightly - to 37.5-37.8 degrees. The characteristic increase in cough, the appearance of moodiness and irritability in the child is the manifestation of whooping cough in children in the catarrhal period. This stage lasts from 2-3 days to two weeks, after which the disease passes into the most severe form.
Spasmodic period of whooping cough
Only at this stage signs of pertussis infection become apparent. The child begins to cough much, such a cough with pertussis always begins suddenly and passes by peculiar attacks. The baby makes a few coughing jerks, then a deep instinctive breath takes place with a whistle - a reprise, after which a convulsive cough begins again. During such spasmodic seizures, 2 to 15 cycles of severe coughing can occur over a period of 4 minutes. In the end, the patient coughs up a large number of thick, viscous sputum, often there is vomiting.
Such already very painful symptoms in themselves also appear against the background of increased excitability during an attack. The baby's face becomes cyanotic, puffiness and vasodilation on the neck, redness of the eyeballs. The tongue involuntarily protrudes from the mouth, often even injured by his bridle. The most serious complication in the spasmodic period of the ailment is not the excessive liberation of mucus or vomiting, but the fact that because of the intensity of the cough the child can stop breathing and begin to suffocate, even up to a lethal outcome.
Pertussis resolution period
Spasmodic cough in children with pertussis-infected children is observed for a long time - for 3-4 weeks. Within a day, there may be 5 to 50 seizures, then their intensity decreases, and the disease resolution period begins. How does pertussis appear at this stage? The kid continues to cough, but in the usual way, not with attacks, without a lot of mucus and vomiting. Another 2-3 weeks the disease continues in this form.
Pertussis - symptoms in children before the year
The most dangerous age in which this infection is very hard to tolerate is the first year of a newborn's life. How to determine whooping cough in a child when it is still so small? We must clearly understand that at such a young age it is not worthwhile to risk and write off the beginning coughing for a cold. For the correct diagnosis, the infant with any manifestation of a cough should be promptly examined by a doctor.
This need is due to the fact that spasmodic seizures in such small children often cause respiratory arrest not only for a second, but even for a few minutes. This pathologically affects the baby's nervous system and even directly threatens his life. The disease often causes other serious complications - pneumonia, inflammation of the larynx, umbilical or inguinal hernia. To prevent this from happening, timely and adequate medical treatment for young children is mandatory!
Pertussis in vaccinated children - symptoms
Now it is often possible to hear arguments of supporters and opponents of child vaccination not only from this disease, but also from other infections. The facts confirm the following: the symptoms of pertussis in vaccinated children are manifested in an erased, mild form, and the diagnosis itself is placed much less frequently than children who have not been vaccinated. Most importantly, if the baby has been properly vaccinated, then he will not develop spasmodic coughing attacks. Vaccinated children suffer from pertussis as a mild catarrhal infection.
Why do not all parents vaccinate their child from this ailment? This is due to the fact that the vaccine is poorly tolerated: the kids often lose their appetite after the injection, the temperature rises, and general weakness appears. Due to the fact that in the early stages of the disease is very poorly diagnosed, and complications threatens very serious, moms and dads should seriously weigh all the pros and cons of vaccination against this ailment.
Parakoklysh in children - symptoms of
This disease causes a pathogen, which in its properties is very similar to pertussis, and the course of the disease is similar to the mild form of whooping cough. The main difference, which is characterized by paracosis - symptoms in the form of coughing attacks are much less frequent and last for long. Also, with the disease, complications are rare and there are no lethal outcomes. In practice, there are two varieties of this disease.
- Pugilliform form - in the most acute stage there are coughing attacks with convulsive breaths( reprises), even vomiting may occur. All these symptoms are characterized by a much more mild degree of severity than with pertussis.
- Rubbed form - the patient has a tracheal or tracheobronchial cough, sometimes dry wheezes are heard in the lungs.