Whooping cough can last up to 10 weeks and can lead to pneumonia and other complications. The symptoms of whooping cough may look like other medical conditions.
Subsequently, can whooping cough cause permanent lung damage?
Childhood (and sometimes adult) lung infections such as tuberculosis, measles, whooping cough and pneumonia can leave behind areas of damaged lung with bronchiectasis.
Moreover, can whooping cough damage your heart?
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), about half of babies one year old and younger who contract whooping cough end up hospitalized. Young children are also at risk of other complications, such as pneumonia, dehydration and heart failure.
How does pertussis cause encephalopathy?
Pertussis encephalopathy is usually associated with fever; seizures; alteration of consciousness; and focal neurologic signs, most notably acute visual loss in the presence of normal optic discs. It has been suggested that pertussis encephalopathy is secondary to retinal changes induced by cough paroxysms.
What happens if pertussis is left untreated?
Complications of whooping cough are more common in infants and young children. They may include pneumonia, middle ear infection, loss of appetite, sleep disturbance, fainting, dehydration, seizures, altered brain function (encephalopathy), brief periods when breathing stops and death.
What is the most common complication of pertussis vaccine?
Clinical Complications
- 68% will have apnea.
- 23% get pneumonia.
- 1.2% will have seizures.
- 1% will die.
- 0.4% will have encephalopathy (as a result of hypoxia from coughing or possibly from toxin)