Pertussis is an acute respiratory infection caused by the bacterium Bordetella pertussis. It has characteristic clinical features and course of illness.
Early on, whooping cough can have cold symptoms such as runny nose, sneezing, cough, and conjunctival congestion, and can be accompanied by fever, which subsides after 3 to 4 days, and a cough that gets progressively worse, often lighter day and heavier night.
The cough is characterized by paroxysmal, serial, successive spasmodic coughs, accompanied by a deep, long inhalation, presenting a high-pitched, chicken-like inspiratory roar, followed by another spasmodic cough, repeated several times, until a large amount of mucous sputum is coughed up, often accompanied by vomiting. The child coughs with eyes wide open, red ears, tongue outward, anxious expression, bent torso, and pain. Pneumonia, atelectasis, emphysema, heart damage, and even pertussis encephalopathy, worsening tuberculosis, umbilical hernia, inguinal hernia, or rectal prolapse may occur.
In conclusion, as an infectious disease, the first step is to ask about the history of vaccination and whether there is contact with suspected infected patients and the local epidemic. The clinical presentation is characterized by a paroxysmal spasmodic cough with a deep, long, chicken-like inspiratory roar at the end of the cough, and the cough intensifies after the temperature drops, especially at night, and there is no special lung auscultation, the diagnosis of pertussis should be considered. The duration of the disease can be as long as 2 to 3 months, and the disease is more severe in infants younger than 3 months of age.