May 25, 2012
Topics A-Z Children's Health Whopping cough
Whopping cough |
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Dear Ask The Doctor: We have a 2 month old family member that is at the ER tonight with an upper resp. infection and a very mild case of whooping cough. The ER doctor states he is not in the contagious stage, we have a lot of family members here for the Christmas holiday. Should we be concerned? I would appreciate any views or opinions? Thank you Karen Florida Dear Karen: Pertussis is highly contagious. The bacteria spread from person to person through tiny drops of fluid from an infected person's nose or mouth. These may become airborne when the person sneezes, coughs, or laughs. Others then can become infected by inhaling the drops or getting the drops on their hands and then touching their mouths or noses. The infected persons are most contagious during the earliest stages of the illness up to about 2 weeks after the cough begins. Antibiotics shorten the period of contagiousness to 5 days following the start of antibiotic treatment. If there are other young members in the family around age 11 that have not had a booster vaccine recently, I would suggest them to avoid direct contact with the baby. I hope I cleared your doubt.
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| Last Updated ( Monday, 20 December 2010 ) |
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