Fast Facts
Pertussis is also known as "whooping cough" because of the "whooping" sound that is made when gasping for air.
Coughing fits due to pertussis infection can last for up to 10 weeks or more; this disease is sometimes known as the "100 day cough."
Pertussis can cause serious illness in babies, children, teens, and adults and can even be life-threatening, especially in babies.
Incubation Period
The incubation period is 7-14 days.
Symptoms
Pertussis usually starts with cold-like symptoms and maybe a mild cough or fever.
Early symptoms can last for 1 to 2 weeks and usually include:
Runny nose
Low-grade fever (generally minimal throughout the course of the disease)
Mild, occasional cough
Apnea – a pause in breathing (in babies)
Later-stage symptoms
After 1 to 2 weeks and as the disease progresses, the traditional symptoms of pertussis may appear and include:
Paroxysms (fits) of many, rapid coughs followed by a high-pitched "whoop"
Vomiting (throwing up) during or after coughing fits
Exhaustion (very tired) after coughing fits
Pertussis can cause violent and rapid coughing, over and over, until the air is gone from the lungs and you are forced to inhale with a loud "whooping" sound. This extreme coughing can cause you to throw up and be very tired.
Transmission
Pertussis is spread from person-to-person, when an ill individual coughs or sneezes or when they spend a lot of time near one another, sharing breathing space.
Infected people are most contagious up to about two weeks after the cough begins. Antibiotics may shorten the amount of time someone is contagious.
Prevention
While pertussis vaccines are the most effective tool we have to prevent this disease, no vaccine is 100 percent effective, and it is recommended to revaccinate about every 10 years as an adult as immunity from the pertussis vaccine can wane. If pertussis is circulating in the community, there is a chance that a fully vaccinated person, of any age, can catch this very contagious disease. If you have been vaccinated but still get sick, the infection is usually not as bad.
As with any respiratory illness, practicing good hygiene is recommended to prevent spreading pertussis.
Treatment
Pertussis is generally treated with antibiotics and early treatment is very important. Treatment may make your infection less serious if it is started early, before coughing fits begin. Treatment can also help prevent spreading the disease to close contacts (people who have spent a lot of time around the infected person). Treatment after three weeks of illness is unlikely to help because the bacteria are gone from your body, even though you usually will still have symptoms. This is because the bacteria have already done damage to your body.
Complication
The appearance of fever suggests a secondary bacterial infection complicating the B. pertussis infection. Otitis media and pneumonia are most common infective complications; others are as a result of straining which include hernia, prolapsed rectum and Encephalitis.
Diagnosis A. Specimen
A saline nasal wash is the preferred specimens. Nasopharyngeal swab or cough droplets expelled onto a ‘‘Cough plate’’ held in front of the patient mouth during a paroxysm are sometimes used but are not good as saline nasal wash
Diagnosis B. Directly Florescent Anti-Body Test
The F.A reagent can be used to examine nasopharyngeal swab specimen. However,
Tuberculosis: TB disease and latent TB infection
Tuberculosis (TB) is primarily an airborne disease caused by the bacteria Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which are spread person-to-person through the air. This bacteria mainly affects the lungs, but may adversely affect other organs.
Individuals who are exposed to TB often do not feel sick or present any symptoms. These individuals are not contagious at this point, unless their infection persists into active TB disease. At this point the bacterium can be spread through microscopic droplets as the patient sneezes, coughs, talks, or otherwise projects contaminated sputum/saliva from their body. People nearby may breathe in these bacteria and become infected as the bacteria can stay in the air for several hours.
As a top infectious disease, current estimates are that TB infects nearly two billion people or about one-third of the world population. These infected, non-disease active people are considered latent TB cases. This means that people are infected with TB bacteria, but are not yet ill or active cases. Infected people have a lifetime risk of 10 percent to falling ill to TB.
According to the World Health Organization, in 2014 9.6 million people had developed active TB illness and 1.5 million died from the disease. During 2014, the CDC reported that 9,421 active TB cases were recorded within the United States. There were 108 cases of TB disease in Indiana in 2014.
Transmission
TB is spread primarily through the air.
Bacteria are spread person-to-person in droplets as a TB sufferer sneezes, coughs, or talks.
Bacteria must be active in TB sufferers in order to spread.
Symptoms
Chronic or debilitating cough (that lasts 3 weeks or longer)
Pain in the chest
Coughing up bloody sputum (saliva)
Weight loss
Fever
Night sweats
Loss of appetite