Symptoms of Whooping cough

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Symptoms can take 5-21 days to appear after infection, but in most cases they appear after 7-10 days. This is called the incubation period.

The early symptoms of whooping cough are often like a cold:

runny nose,
dry, irritating cough, and
raised temperature.

There may be lots of mucus or catarrh in the nose and mouth.

After these symptoms begin, the child is very infectious for approximately two weeks and should be kept away from other children, especially babies, to stop the disease spreading. Once they have been given antibiotics they will only be infectious for five days.

As the cold symptoms start to improve, coughing attacks begin, and may be particularly bad at night. These bouts of coughing can cause the childâ€™s face to go red and their eyes to water. Seek medical attention if your child seems very unwell or goes blue in the face.

Coughing can make it difficult for the child to breathe. They may make a â€˜whoopingâ€™ sound at the end of a bout of coughing as they gasp for air - the disease gets its name from this sound. Sometimes the child will whoop then be sick (vomit) at the end of a bout of coughing. Young babies are often sick but may not whoop. If your child is repeatedly being sick they will be losing a lot of weight and may have to go into hospital for a few days.

Younger babies, particularly those under 6 months old, are most seriously affected. Older babies and children do not have such severe symptoms.In adults, the symptoms of whooping cough are normally only a dry, irritating cough that lasts for a few months.

Usually the bouts of coughing last for 6-8 weeks, even with antibiotic treatment.