Whooping Cough

Whooping cough, also called pertussis, is a very contagious upper respiratory infection. It usually gives you lengthy and repeated bouts of coughing. These coughing episodes can continue for weeks or even months after you first develop symptoms of the illness.

Instead of coughing spells, babies with pertussis may have breathing difficulties. This includes conditions such as apnea, when there are pauses in their breathing. Whooping cough can cause serious, life-threatening complications in babies. About one-third of all infants (babies younger than 1 year old) who get whooping cough need treatment at a hospital.

The whooping cough vaccine can help prevent the infection.

What does whooping cough sound like?

Prolonged coughing causes air to be expelled from your lungs. When you gasp for air quickly and deeply after a coughing fit, a whooping cough sound might accompany the inhalation of air. This sound is a loud, high-pitched “whooping” noise. That’s where pertussis gets its name. However, someone may still have the infection without making the noise.

Who does whooping cough affect?

Pertussis can affect anyone, but it most often occurs in babies, children and adolescents. Babies are especially vulnerable to infection because they can’t receive the pertussis vaccine until they’re at least 2 months old. They can catch whooping cough from their parents, adult caregivers or other children.

Can adults get whooping cough?

Yes. But whooping cough in adults is generally milder than in babies and children. This is especially true for adults who’ve received the whooping cough vaccine. The infection may seem more like the common cold. The “whoop” may not be there in people with milder illnesses.

However, adults can develop serious cases of whooping cough, especially if they haven’t received the pertussis vaccine. They may have long-lasting coughing fits that keep them awake all night. People who’ve experienced these coughing bouts say it’s the worst cough of their lives. It can also cause major interruptions in your daily life and serious complications.

How common is pertussis?

Before the development of the pertussis vaccine, there were hundreds of thousands of cases of whooping cough each year in the U.S.

Today, case numbers have dropped significantly. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there were about 1,600 reported cases of pertussis in the U.S. in 2021.

Every few years, outbreaks occur, and there are peaks in reported cases. In addition, whooping cough continues to be a global endemic. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there were more than 151,000 cases of pertussis worldwide in 2018.