Pertussis (whooping cough): Not just for kids
Children get all the news coverage but adults can be infected, too. But no one should get pertussis. It can be prevented by a vaccine.
An over-60 adult I know recently got a pertussis vaccine shot at a medical checkup. The next day, driving past my local pharmacy, I saw signs advertising pertussis shots along with the notices for flu shots. Pertussis, long known as whooping cough, is a childhood ailment, isn't it?
Nope. Children get all the news coverage but adults can be infected, too. But no one should get pertussis. It can be prevented. Infants and children need to be immunized with the DTaP vaccine (the schedule for infant and childhood immunization is here. Adults need booster shots, called Tdap, every 10 years; many adults don't know their immunization status. Nationally, outbreaks of pertussis are on the rise.
Pertussis is caused by a bacterium and is marked by a convulsive, spasmodic cough (
» READ MORE: listen!
). Because it is more common in children, diagnosing it in adults can be difficult. As historian
» READ MORE: Cynthia Connolly
explains: “In adults, whooping cough can look different than it does for young children and, as such, it is often overlooked. The symptoms are often (but not always) more mild than they are in young infants. And because some adults don't get as sick as children, and because their airway diameter is much larger than it is for young infants, they frequently lack the characteristic “whoop.” Health care providers who care for adults sometimes forget to include pertussis in their differential diagnosis of an adult with a cough because of whooping cough’s strong association as a 'pediatric' infectious disease. Although pertussis is much more fatal in young infants, anyone of any age can develop it.”
Physician-historian Russell Maulitz has seen adult patients every year for pertussis. He tells us that "these folks are much sicker than the run-of-the-mill 'flu-like illness' patients. Their cough is often so bad, he notes, that it's causing them to experience nausea and vomiting as a direct result. "And the worst part is, the treatment, once you're infected, isn't very good, and all your household contacts have to be quickly sought out and vaccinated," he says.
So, if your health-care provider recommends getting the pertussis vaccine, don't say "I'm too old for that" – hold out your arm and say, "thanks." (And get the other immunizations you need!) And here's some good news: those covered by the Affordable Care Act will receive their shots as part of their coverage with no copay.
Read more about The Public's Health.