Symptoms and treatment of whooping cough in children. Recommendations for parents

Both adults and children can get whooping cough. Immunity against this respiratory infection is developed only after a person has been ill once. In children, the manifestations are more severe, and complications can be very serious, including death. The vaccine is given in the first months of life. It does not guarantee complete protection against infection, but in vaccinated children the disease occurs in a much milder form. Doctors recommend that parents, when caring for children with whooping cough, protect them as much as possible from any factors that provoke a suffocating cough.

Features of whooping cough

The causative agent of this disease is whooping cough (a bacterium called Bordetella). The infection affects the trachea and bronchi.

The respiratory tract is covered with the so-called ciliated epithelium, the cells of which have “cilia” that ensure the movement of mucus and its removal to the outside. When they are irritated by toxic substances secreted by whooping cough pathogens, the nerve endings transmit a signal from the epithelium to the brain (to the area responsible for coughing). The response is a reflex cough, which should push the source of irritation out. Bacteria are firmly held on the epithelium due to the fact that they have special villi.

It is characteristic that the cough reflex is so entrenched in the brain that even after the death of all bacteria, a strong urge to cough continues to persist for several more weeks. The waste products of pertussis bacteria cause general intoxication of the body.

Warning: Humans do not have innate immunity to this disease. Even an infant can get sick. Therefore, it is so important to protect him from contact with adults who have a strong, persistent cough. It may well be a sign of whooping cough, which in an adult, as a rule, does not have other characteristic manifestations.

A person’s susceptibility is so great that if a baby gets sick, the rest of the family will definitely become infected from him. Whooping cough lasts 3 months while the cough reflex exists. In this case, the disease has virtually no symptoms for about 2 weeks. If you somehow manage to establish in the very first days that the pertussis bacterium is present in the body, then you can quickly suppress the disease, since the dangerous cough reflex has not yet had time to take hold. Usually, symptoms of whooping cough in children are detected already at a severe stage. Then the disease continues until the cough gradually goes away on its own.

How does infection occur?

Most often, children under the age of 6-7 years become infected with whooping cough. Moreover, in children under 2 years of age, the likelihood of infection is 2 times higher than in older children.

The incubation period for whooping cough is 1-2 weeks. For 30 days, the child should not visit a child care facility or have contact with other children, as whooping cough is highly contagious. Infection is only possible through airborne droplets during close contact with a sick person or bacteria carrier when he sneezes or coughs.

Outbreaks of the disease occur more often in the autumn-winter period. This is explained by the fact that whooping cough bacteria quickly die in the sun, and the length of daylight in winter and autumn is minimal.

Forms of whooping cough

When infected with whooping cough, the disease may occur in one of the following forms:

Typical - the disease develops consistently with all its inherent signs.
Atypical (erased) - the patient coughs only slightly, but there are no severe attacks. For some time, the cough may disappear altogether.
In the form of bacterial carriage, when there are no signs of the disease, but the child is a carrier of bacteria.

This form is dangerous because it can infect other people, while parents are confident that the baby is healthy. Most often, this form of whooping cough occurs in older children (after 7 years) if they have been vaccinated. The baby also remains a bacteria carrier after recovery from typical whooping cough until 30 days after the infection entered his body. Whooping cough often manifests itself in such a latent form in adults (for example, workers in child care institutions).

The first signs of whooping cough

At the initial stage, the disease does not cause much concern for parents, since the first signs of whooping cough resemble a common cold. The baby develops severe chills due to rising temperature, headache, and weakness. Snot appears, and then an intensifying dry cough. Moreover, ordinary cough remedies do not help. And only after a few days symptoms of typical whooping cough may appear, which gradually intensify.

Periods of illness and characteristic symptoms of whooping cough

There are the following periods for the development of whooping cough symptoms in a child:

Incubation. The infection has already occurred, but there are no first signs of the disease. They appear only 6-14 days after the bacteria enter the body.
Premonitory. This is a period associated with the appearance of precursors of whooping cough: a dry, gradually increasing (especially at night) cough, a slight increase in temperature. At the same time, the child feels well. But this condition lasts 1-2 weeks without change.
Spasmodic. There are attacks of convulsive cough associated with an attempt to push out what is irritating the respiratory tract, and it is difficult to inhale air. After several coughing exhalations, a deep breath follows with a characteristic whistling sound (reprise), which occurs due to a spasm of the larynx in the vocal cords. After this, the baby shudders convulsively several times. The attack ends with the release of mucus or vomiting. Coughing attacks with whooping cough can be repeated from 5 to 40 times a day. The frequency of their appearance is a characteristic of the severity of the disease. During an attack, the child's tongue sticks out and his face is red-blue. The eyes turn red because the blood vessels burst due to tension. Breathing may stop for 30-60 seconds. This period of illness lasts approximately 2 weeks.
Reverse development (resolution). The cough gradually weakens, attacks appear for another 10 days, the pauses between them increase. Then severe symptoms disappear. The child coughs a little for another 2-3 weeks, but the cough is normal.

Note: In infants, painful attacks do not last as long, but after several coughing movements, breathing may stop. Oxygen starvation of the brain causes diseases of the nervous system and developmental delays. Even death is possible.

Possible complications

Complications of whooping cough can include inflammation of the respiratory system: lungs (pneumonia), bronchi (bronchitis), larynx (laryngitis), trachea (tracheitis). As a result of narrowing of the lumen of the respiratory passages, as well as spasms and swelling of tissues, death can occur. Bronchopneumonia develops especially quickly in children under 1 year of age.

Complications such as emphysema (bloating) and pneumothorax (damage to the lung wall and air leaking into the surrounding cavity) are possible. Severe tension during an attack can cause umbilical and inguinal hernias and nosebleeds.

After whooping cough, due to cerebral hypoxia, tissue damage to individual centers sometimes occurs, resulting in hearing impairment or epileptic seizures in the child. Seizures, which also occur due to disruption of brain function, are very dangerous and can lead to death.

Due to strain when coughing, damage to the eardrums and bleeding in the brain occurs.

Diagnosis of whooping cough in children

If a child's whooping cough occurs in a mild and atypical form, diagnosis is very difficult. The doctor can assume that the malaise is caused by this particular disease in the following cases:

the child’s cough does not go away for a long time, the symptom only intensifies, while the runny nose and fever stopped after 3 days;
expectorants do not have any effect; on the contrary, the state of health worsens after taking them;
Between coughing attacks, the baby seems healthy and has a normal appetite.

In this case, to make sure that the patient has whooping cough, a bacteriological culture of a throat smear is done. The difficulty is that the bacterium is held quite firmly by the ciliated epithelium and is not removed outside. The likelihood that even in the presence of whooping cough pathogens they can be detected using this method is reduced to zero if the child has eaten or brushed his teeth before the procedure. They will be completely absent from the sample if the baby was given even an insignificant dose of antibiotic.

A general blood test is also done, which reveals a characteristic increase in the content of leukocytes and lymphocytes.

Methods for diagnosing whooping cough bacillus are used using a blood test for antibodies (ELISA, PCR, RA).

Warning: If the characteristic symptoms of whooping cough are present, the child must be isolated to avoid infecting other people. In addition, his situation may worsen after communicating with people with colds or flu. Even after recovery, the body is weakened, the slightest hypothermia or infection causes severe complications of whooping cough.

Treatment of whooping cough in children

Whooping cough is treated mainly at home, except when it affects babies under 1 year of age. Their complications develop rapidly, and the baby may simply not have time to save. A child of any age is hospitalized if complications arise.

First aid at home for whooping cough

During a coughing attack, the baby should not lie down. He needs to be planted immediately. The room temperature should be no more than 16 degrees. You should turn off the heating completely and use a sprinkler to humidify the air.

It is important to calm and distract the baby with the help of toys and cartoons. Since the cause of cough is stimulation of the nerve center of the brain, fear and excitement provoke increased coughing and spasm in the respiratory tract. At the slightest deterioration of the condition, it is necessary to urgently call an ambulance.

How to alleviate the condition and speed up recovery

A sick baby needs to walk every day to prevent brain hypoxia and improve breathing. At the same time, we must remember that it can infect other children. The patient should not be nervous.

An attack can be triggered by improperly organized nutrition. It is necessary to feed the baby often and little by little, mainly with liquid food, since the chewing movement also causes coughing and vomiting. Warning: It is under no circumstances recommended to self-medicate or use “grandmother’s remedies” to get rid of a cough. The nature of the cough in this case is such that heating and infusions do not get rid of it, and an allergic reaction to plants can lead to a state of shock.

Treatment with antibiotics

Whooping cough is usually detected at a stage when the cough reflex, which represents the main danger, has already developed. In this case, antibiotics do not help.

At the stage of the appearance of precursors of the disease, the baby is given only an antipyretic medicine if there is a slight rise in temperature. You cannot give him expectorants when a dry paroxysmal cough appears on your own, since the movement of sputum will cause increased irritation of the respiratory tract.

Antibiotics (namely erythromycin, which does not have a harmful effect on the liver, intestines and kidneys) are used to treat children from whooping cough at a very early stage, before severe coughing attacks have yet appeared.

They are taken more often for preventive purposes. If one of your family members gets whooping cough, taking an antibiotic will protect the children from the action of the bacterium. It kills the germ before a cough develops. An antibiotic will also help adult family members caring for a sick baby not to get sick.

Prevention

Since whooping cough is very contagious, when cases of the disease are detected in a children's institution, examination and preventive treatment of all children and adults who were in contact with the patient are carried out.

Infection of whooping cough in infants is especially dangerous. Therefore, it is necessary to limit the child’s stay in crowded places and communication with unfamiliar children and adults. If a child is brought from the maternity hospital, and one of the family members is sick, it is necessary to completely exclude his contact with the baby.

The main preventive measure is vaccination. It reduces the risk of infection. In case of illness, whooping cough is much easier.

Possible complications after vaccination

Unpleasant consequences after vaccination against whooping cough rarely occur; according to statistics, in Moscow, out of 1 million vaccinations, there were only 8 cases that were accompanied by any complications. They are mainly local in nature and can appear in the first two days after vaccination. A person may feel a general malaise, observe an increase in body temperature, swelling, soreness or hyperemia at the injection site. In extremely rare cases, seizures or various allergic reactions may occur.

Vaccination may not be carried out if a person has diseases of the nervous system, a history of afebrile seizures, atypical reactions to a previous vaccination and hypersensitivity to components in the vaccine. The decision to cancel or postpone vaccination is made by the doctor.

Parents can protect their children from the 17 most dangerous infectious diseases. Here is their list:

Tuberculosis
Viral hepatitis B
Rotavirus infection
Pneumococcal infection
Diphtheria
Tetanus
Polio
Haemophilus influenzae infection
Measles
Rubella
Parotitis
Meningococcal infection
Viral hepatitis A
Chicken pox
Flu
Human papillomavirus
Calendar of children's preventive vaccinations