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How to treat whooping cough disease in children. Convulsive infectious cough - whooping cough in children: symptoms and treatment, prevention, photos of signs of the disease

Whooping cough is one of the most dangerous childhood diseases infectious diseases requiring immediate treatment. The course of the disease and the condition of the child largely depend on the correct timely actions of the parents.

Whooping cough is a disease that affects the respiratory tract and is characterized by a cough with spasms. The causative agent is the whooping cough bacillus, discovered in 1906 by the Belgian Bordet and the Frenchman Zhangu.

Causes of whooping cough

The source of the disease is an infected person. Pertussis bacteria are transmitted by airborne droplets, but at the same time they are characterized by low resistance, so that one can become infected only through prolonged close contact.

IMPORTANT: Parents, if possible, should limit the contact of their children who have not been vaccinated against whooping cough with coughing people.

How does whooping cough manifest in children? Signs

The most important thing is to distinguish whooping cough from a common cold in time.

Incubation period The disease can last up to three weeks, but is more often limited to 5 – 7 days.

IMPORTANT: Special clinical manifestations illness is not observed at this time, but the child is already sick and is a source of spread of infection.

Next comes the catarrhal period, during which bacteria multiply on the walls respiratory tract. The clinical picture is insignificant: the child coughs, sneezes, a runny nose begins, and the temperature rises to 39°C.


Symptoms of whooping cough initial stage in children similar to ARVI symptoms

Gradually, the frequency of coughing increases, turning into spasmodic attacks. However, there is still no sputum discharge.

During an attack, the child begins to literally choke, as coughing tremors they do not allow him to take air into his lungs.

IMPORTANT: For such spasms blood pressure increases and, therefore, small hemorrhages into the capillaries of the eyes are possible. Convulsive attacks, especially persistent and frequent at night, often accompanied by vomiting and even involuntary release of urine and feces.


With whooping cough spasms, hemorrhages in the capillaries of the eyes are possible

This clinic is the peak of the spasmodic period. After this, the frequency of attacks decreases, the cough goes from “whooping cough” to ordinary, which is the norm for the last, resolving period of the disease.

The child recovers, although the cough may persist for another 10-15 days. Total duration illness – 6-8 weeks.

Whooping cough: symptoms in children under one year old

In infants, the first two periods of whooping cough are practically absent, which is typical for severe forms of the disease.

Although coughing attacks are shorter, “oxygen starvation” is observed in all tissues and organs of the baby. Therefore, coughing is often accompanied by loss of consciousness, convulsions, and respiratory arrest.


IMPORTANT: If the latter happens, it is necessary to artificially induce vomiting in the child by pressing on the root of the tongue. This will help restore the breathing process.

How is whooping cough transmitted in children?

Pertussis bacteria are very fastidious microbes. They die quickly, so the likelihood of infecting a child through household items (toys, dishes, linen) is minimal. The same cannot be said about children’s direct contact with each other.

Kids communicate, hug, kiss - this is an excellent opportunity to catch a pathogen transmitted by airborne droplets from an infected child.


Whooping cough in children is transmitted through direct contact

IMPORTANT: If a child gets sick with whooping cough, it is better to take him for walks away from playgrounds and attractions. This way you will protect other children from infection, and your child from acquiring a new infection.

Whooping cough: diagnosis in children

Diagnosing the disease at an early stage - during the catarrhal period - is very difficult, especially in children under six months of age, since whooping cough is atypical.


  • If the child has an unusual severe cough and general malaise, needs to be done bacteriological analysis
  • The material for inoculation is taken with a curved swab with back wall pharynx and placed in Bordet-Giangu medium (glycerin-potato blood agar)
  • Pertussis sticks grow in 72 - 96 hours in the form of small colonies of an oily consistency with metallic shine(like drops of mercury)
  • The disease can also be diagnosed immunofluorescence reaction or polymerase method chain reaction that allow detection of the microbe in smears of nasopharyngeal mucus

IMPORTANT: Bacteriological confirmation of the diagnosis of whooping cough allows you to timely isolate the sick child from the children's group and thereby prevent further spread of the disease.

When should children be tested for whooping cough?

If your child is sick and, according to the anamnesis, has been in contact with coughing children, it’s time to get tested for whooping cough:

  • First you need to pass general (clinical) blood test. It is needed in order to determine the presence of any infection in the body. Since whooping cough has bacterial nature, the level of leukocytes in the blood will increase, and lymphocytes will predominate in the leukocyte formula, but other indicators will not change significantly
  • If the disease becomes severe, then you need to take general urine test And biochemical analysis blood to identify possible complications
  • It is also necessary to pass general analysis of respiratory secretions- sputum. The method is that at the time of an attack an open cup with a nutrient medium is brought to the child’s mouth, onto which droplets of mucus containing the infectious agent settle when coughing. The cultures are placed in a thermostat at a temperature of 37ºC for 2 - 3 days
  • No less important immunological tests blood and nasal discharge. This analysis determines the content of immunoglobulin M in the blood, and immunoglobulin A in the nasal mucus - antibodies to the bacillus that provokes whooping cough.
  • In addition, before starting treatment, bacterial culture, detecting pertussis bacillus 3 to 4 days after the analysis

General analysis blood will reveal the presence of whooping cough in the child’s body

How to cure whooping cough in a child?

Since whooping cough is bacterial in nature, you can get rid of it only with the help of antibiotics intended for the treatment of various infectious diseases of the respiratory tract:

  • erythromycin
  • rovamycin
  • tetracycline
  • azithromycin
  • ampicillin

IMPORTANT: Treatment with antibacterial drugs should last at least 10 days.

In parallel with the main treatment, you need to use other cough remedies. But it is necessary to remember that none of the syrups will cure a cough, but will only help you avoid catching a secondary infection that can develop against the background of whooping cough: bronchitis, pneumonia or pleurisy.


Complications after whooping cough in children

Severe illness in a child can lead to negative consequences for the body:

  • A decrease in capillary stability often provokes nosebleeds, retinal hemorrhages and, extremely rarely, in brain with subsequent paralysis of the central nervous system
  • Due to violation respiratory process Maybe development of pathology in the child’s lungs
  • The presence of coccal flora in the body can lead to development of streptococcus, staphylococcus, pneumococcus
  • Cases of development are not uncommon bronchitis, pleurisy, pneumonia

Nosebleeds are one of the complications after whooping cough in children.

What to do if there is a suspicion of whooping cough in a child?

The most important thing is not to panic, but to consult a doctor in a timely manner and take a blood test with leukocyte formula. Having received the result, the doctor will see the presence of the disease.

You also need to submit the material to bacteriological culture, the results of which will show with maximum accuracy the presence or absence of pertussis bacillus in the child’s body.

Treatment of whooping cough in children with drugs and folk remedies

In most cases, treatment of whooping cough in children occurs at home. However, if infants are ill before six months, or a severe complication of the disease occurs in an older child, then it is safer to undergo treatment in a hospital.

IMPORTANT: One of the important conditions treatment is regimen and diet. Such components of therapy can be easily organized at home.

The food consumed by the child must be complete and fortified. You need to eat often, but in doses, since the specific course of the disease can cause vomiting.


One of the conditions successful treatment whooping cough in children - diet

Daily long walks are required, but away from crowded places, especially children. Positive Action provides long-term patient stay near water bodies.

IMPORTANT: Symptomatic treatment includes taking antipyretics (if the child’s temperature is above 38°C), antibiotics prescribed by the attending physician, antitussives, sedatives, syrups to improve sputum discharge and inhalations with aminophylline.

Many mothers do not ignore and funds traditional medicine , reflected in the advice of grandmothers, mothers-in-law, neighbors and friends.

There are a lot of options and recipes. But there are still the main components for preparing whooping cough killer cocktails: onions, garlic, honey and milk in combinations taken by the child - and the disease will be easier and more likely secondary infection will be kept to a minimum.


Honey and onions are the main ingredients folk recipes whooping cough treatment

Recipe No. 1. Place chopped garlic (50g) and thyme (30g) in an enamel container, add water (0.5l) and put on low heat. Let the broth boil well, then remove it from the heat, cool and strain. Add honey (250g) to the liquid part and mix well. Give the syrup to the child 3 - 4 times a day, 1 tsp. after every meal.

Recipe No. 2. Boil a large onion, chop finely and mix with honey in a 1:1 ratio. Offer this medicine to your child every hour in minimal portions(1/4 - 1/6 tsp each).

Recipe No. 3. Mix honey (150g) with homemade butter (100g). Give the product to the child three times a day, 1 tsp. after eating.

Recipe No. 4. Grate horseradish root (100 g) on ​​a fine grater and mix with honey (100 g). Take 1 tsp twice a day.

Recipe No. 5. Add 5 cloves of garlic to boiling milk (1 tbsp) and boil for 5-7 minutes. Offer your child this decoction several times a day. Let him drink as much as he can.

Recipe No. 6. Mix butter and butter in equal proportions pork fat. Add grated garlic (3 cloves per 100g of product) and mix thoroughly. Rub the baby's chest and back if there is no fever.


Recipe No. 7. Grind licorice root (300g), boil in milk (1l) for 7-10 minutes. Cool, strain, add honey (2 tbsp). Take warm, 3 times a day, 1 tsp.

Recipe No. 8. Finely chop onion (2 pcs.), mix with sugar (2 tbsp.). Leave to infuse overnight in a sealed container. In the morning, grind the mixture and strain. Onion-sugar syrup take 1 tbsp. during coughing attacks.

Video: Treatment of whooping cough with folk remedies

Prevention of whooping cough

Whooping cough mainly affects children. The infection is transmitted from patients through airborne droplets.

IMPORTANT: Due to the low persistence of whooping cough bacteria, the role of various items, surrounding the patient, is very insignificant, so there is no point in carrying out disinfection measures.

  • It is necessary to isolate an infected child as soon as possible, and quarantine children who have been in contact with him for 14 days from the date of last contact with the sick person.
  • Since the late 50s of the 20th century, vaccination against whooping cough has been carried out in developed countries with killed pertussis bacilli associated with diphtheria and tetanus toxoid(DPT)
  • Babies are vaccinated three times from the age of three months every 45 days. Then at 18 months revaccination is carried out

Vaccination - reliable method whooping cough prevention

Since killed bacteria are very strong allergens, artificial vaccines are now used, consisting of individual components of killed microorganisms, which are quite enough for the child to develop active immunity to whooping cough.

Video: Whooping cough - Dr. Komorowski's School

Bordetella pertussis (whooping cough bacillus) is the main cause of whooping cough in newborns. It spreads mainly by airborne droplets at a distance of up to 3 meters. That is why any contact of an infant with whooping cough is strictly prohibited.

The bacterium lives in the external environment, but when exposed to ultraviolet rays or high temperature she dies. That is why the disease is mainly seasonal and spreads mainly in early spring, autumn or winter.

Thus, infection with whooping cough can occur in two main ways: airborne and household, when the pertussis bacillus enters from external environment. When the bacteria enters the body of a newborn, it begins to actively multiply and spread. Within a month after the illness, the baby poses a danger to others, since during the announced period, even if the symptoms of the disease disappear, he remains a carrier of the infection.

Symptoms

Whooping cough in newborns occurs in four stages, including:

  • Incubation stage. Lasts 3-16 days. During this period, the bacterium enters the body and attaches to the walls of the bronchi.
  • Catarrhal stage. Lasts for two weeks. During this period pathogen releases toxins that spread through the bronchi and enter the circulatory system.
  • Spasmodic stage. Lasts 2-8 days. At this time, toxins spread throughout the body, reach the brain and cause damage to its cells.
  • The final stage. Lasts 2-4 weeks. During this period, the symptoms of the disease decrease as the immune system begins to produce antibodies that attack the pertussis bacillus. Gradually the child recovers.

How does whooping cough manifest in newborns? U infants The pathology is quite severe. As it develops, the child may experience short stops breathing. Coughing attacks are characterized by inconstancy. They occur approximately every 5-15 minutes. The duration of attacks decreases as the disease progresses, but the cough becomes stronger. In this case, the temperature may not rise, the appetite remains as good as before the disease.

At the third stage of the pathology, the temperature rises to 38-39 degrees. Coughing attacks occur both at night and during the day, and suffocation may occur.

The nature of the disease determines the duration and frequency of coughing attacks. If they occur more than 20 times a day, the disease progresses in acute form. If less often, then in a mild form.

Diagnosis of whooping cough in a newborn

Early diagnosis of whooping cough in a newborn is the main condition effective treatment diseases. But establishing a diagnosis is usually difficult, since in newborns the pathology often occurs in an atypical form.

During the diagnosis, the characteristics of the symptoms of the disease are taken into account, and laboratory examination, radiography. In addition, bacteriological culture helps establish the diagnosis. For him, the newborn's nasopharynx takes material and examines it for the presence of pathogenic bacteria.

Complications

Whooping cough is fatal for infants dangerous disease. It can cause pneumonia, cerebral edema, emphysema, hypertension and other pathologies. Due to the fact that the disease is especially severe in newborns, infants are hospitalized and treated exclusively in a hospital setting. It is important to detect the symptoms of whooping cough in time and immediately consult a doctor at the first signs of the disease.

Treatment

What can you do

Whooping cough is a long-term and debilitating disease, so parents are required to pay maximum attention to the baby. During coughing attacks, it is necessary to ensure an optimal microclimate in the room. It is important that the air in it is well humidified. You should also surround your baby with love and care, be constantly nearby and calm him down during coughing attacks. And, of course, the primary task of parents is to consult a doctor to prescribe competent treatment for the disease.

What does a doctor do

Newborns, as a rule, are hospitalized, since whooping cough poses a particular danger for them and is quite different severe course. Skilled supervision is the main component of successful treatment of an infant. Children are usually kept in a dark, quiet room, trying to avoid exposure to external irritants that cause severe coughing attacks. Feeding during illness is carried out more often, but in small portions to warn possible vomiting. In case of vomiting, parental fluid is administered to prevent dehydration of the newborn.

Therapy of the disease is carried out using antibiotics, which do not affect the course of the pathology, but help eliminate pathogenic bacteria and prevent their development. The course of therapy usually lasts 2 weeks.

The main goal of therapy for severe form diseases - combating hypoxia in a newborn, which can develop due to reduced oxygen supply during coughing attacks. For this purpose, certain medications are also used, prescribed by a doctor depending on the age of the baby and the course of his disease.

The newborn must be isolated until the 25th day from the onset of whooping cough.

Prevention

In order to prevent the development of whooping cough, it is necessary to exclude the baby from contact with sick people, as well as carry out a number of measures to help prevent the development of the disease. To do this, it is recommended to regularly carry out quartz treatment of the room in which the newborn is located, and also to ensure sufficient air humidity in the room.

The best way to prevent the disease is vaccination.

When a child begins to cough, parents immediately have reason to worry about his health. If the baby begins to have attacks of whooping cough, when he begins to cough so much that he cannot even breathe, then panic is not far away. Find out what signs this disease is characterized by so that you can recognize it in time.

What is whooping cough and its symptoms

This disease occurs when children's body whooping cough sticks in. This microbe is inside human body can live and reproduce only in the ciliated epithelium, which covers the bronchi and trachea from the inside. The infection irritates these villi covering inner surface respiratory tract, as a result of which signs of whooping cough appear: severe paroxysmal cough and discharge large quantity viscous, thick mucus.

Correct diagnosis this infectious disease is very important during the incubation period, when the pathogen has just entered the body and began to multiply. If the disease is detected in a timely manner and adequate treatment with antibiotics is started, the infection can be quickly brought under control and the baby can be prevented from literally suffocating during attacks for several weeks. For this reason, do not neglect a timely visit to the doctor. Only an experienced specialist can install accurate diagnosis according to laboratory research and by the sound of coughing, and monitor treatment.

Symptoms of whooping cough in a child

During this disease, four successive periods are distinguished: incubation, catarrhal, spasmodic and resolution stage. You need to know that in the first two stages of development, this disease is difficult to diagnose. Even when the pertussis microbe has already entered the child’s body, the child’s signs of whooping cough still do not appear. The baby himself is already a carrier of infection, infecting his environment, for example, in kindergarten.

Catarrhal period of whooping cough

The onset of this disease is often mistaken for common cold: the baby coughs dryly, has a slight runny nose, and the body temperature either does not rise at all or rises slightly - up to 37.5-37.8 degrees. A characteristic increase in cough, the appearance of capriciousness and irritability in the baby - this is how whooping cough manifests itself in children in catarrhal period. This stage lasts from 2-3 days to two weeks, after which the disease progresses to its most severe form.

Spasmodic period of whooping cough

Only at this stage the signs of pertussis infection become obvious. The child begins to cough violently; such a cough with whooping cough always begins suddenly and goes away in peculiar attacks. The baby makes several coughing jerks, after which a deep instinctive breath occurs with a whistle - reprise, after which the convulsive cough begins again. During such spasmodic attacks, 2 to 15 cycles of severe coughing can occur over 4 minutes. At the end, the patient coughs up a large amount of thick, viscous sputum, and vomiting is often observed.

Such symptoms, already very painful in themselves, also appear against the background increased excitability during an attack. The baby’s face becomes bluish, puffiness and dilation of the veins in the neck, redness appear eyeballs. The tongue involuntarily protrudes from the mouth, often even the frenulum is injured. The most serious complication during the spasmodic period of the disease is not copious discharge mucus or vomiting, but the fact that due to the intensity of the cough, the child may stop breathing and begin to suffocate, even leading to death.

Whooping cough resolution period

Spasmodic cough in children infected with pertussis is observed for a long time - for 3-4 weeks. From 5 to 50 attacks can occur per day, then their intensity decreases, and a period of resolution of the disease begins. How does whooping cough manifest at this stage? The baby continues to cough, but in the usual way, and not in attacks, without large discharge mucus and vomit. The disease continues in this form for another 2-3 weeks.

Whooping cough - symptoms in children under one year old

The most dangerous age at which this infection is very difficult to tolerate is the first year of a newborn’s life. How to identify whooping cough in a child when he is still so small? We must clearly understand that at such a young age you should not take risks and attribute the beginning cough to a cold. For a correct diagnosis, an infant with any manifestation of cough must be promptly examined by a doctor.

This need is due to the fact that spasmodic attacks in such young children often cause breathing to stop not only for seconds, but even for several minutes. This pathologically affects the state of the child’s nervous system and even directly threatens his life. The disease often causes other serious complications - pneumonia, inflammation of the larynx, umbilical or inguinal hernia. To prevent this from happening, timely and adequate medical treatment small children a must!

Whooping cough in vaccinated children - symptoms

Nowadays you can often hear arguments between supporters and opponents of childhood vaccination not only against this disease, but also against other infections. The facts confirm the following: symptoms of whooping cough in vaccinated children appear in the erased, mild form, and the diagnosis itself is made much less frequently than in children who have not been vaccinated. What is most important is that if the baby has been properly vaccinated, he will not develop spasmodic coughing attacks. Vaccinated children get whooping cough as a mild cold infection.

Why don’t all parents vaccinate their children against this disease? This happens because the vaccine is poorly tolerated: after the injection, children often lose their appetite, the temperature rises, and general weakness appears. Due to the fact that on early stages The disease is very poorly diagnosed, and the complications threaten to be very serious. Moms and dads need to very seriously weigh the pros and cons of getting vaccinated against this disease.

Whooping cough is a dangerous respiratory tract infection, especially for a child. His main symptom — severe attacks spasmodic cough. The disease is contagious, but in the open air the pathogen dies immediately, so it is transmitted directly from the patient by airborne droplets.

How to get infected

Whooping cough sticks are released when you cough and die very quickly in an open environment, so you can only become infected through contact with a sick person or an adult carrier of the infection. If you are in close contact with a patient and are no further than 2-3 meters away, then the probability of becoming infected tends to 100%. The incubation period lasts from 5 to 9 days.

You can also become infected not from a sick person, but from a carrier of infection. Adults often become a source of infection for children, because they either tolerate it very easily or do not get sick at all, but become healthy carriers of bacteria. Typical carriers are workers in child care institutions.

There is no innate maternal immunity against whooping cough, so even a newborn can get sick. The younger the child is, the more dangerous this infection is, even fatal.

Whooping cough is not seasonal disease, but in the cold season it is recorded more often, since the causative rod immediately dies in the hot sun.

Clinical picture of the disease and symptoms

The causative agent of whooping cough was isolated at the beginning of the last century, and parapertussis also exists. Parapertussis has more mild symptoms and is milder, although its symptoms are similar to whooping cough infection.

Catarrhal period

The first period of infection is called catarrhal. Its symptoms are very similar to a common cold: light intermittent cough, low temperature, other symptoms of acute respiratory infections. Usually at this stage, whooping cough is practically not diagnosed, although at this time it is most contagious - from the 1st to the 20-25th day of infection. During the catarrhal period, no specific symptoms appear. Dry cough, runny nose, temperature around 37.7-38.

If this stage is easy for a child and he continues to go to school or kindergarten, he becomes a source of infection for everyone who comes into contact with him. The number of bacilli secreted sharply decreases literally every day, that is, approximately on the 20th day of the disease, the intensity of “infectiousness” is already very low.

After the catarrhal period

After the catarrhal period, the child’s cough becomes specific. This characteristic feature. The doctor just needs to hear it to make the correct diagnosis. The causative agent of whooping cough, once in the body, actively multiplies in the epithelium of the respiratory tract, which gradually leads to very strong irritation of the cough center. If the disease is lucky enough to be diagnosed on early stage, then appropriate antibiotics will prevent the child from developing a spasmodic cough.

Therefore, if it is known in advance that the child has had contact with a patient with whooping cough, you should immediately do a mucus test. Early diagnosed whooping cough can be effectively treated, but when the spasmodic period has already begun and irritation of the cough center has developed, it is only possible to alleviate the symptoms. In addition, scientists suspect that whooping cough bacilli secrete a special toxin that affects the cough center. That is, the cause of terrible coughing attacks is not in the bronchi, but in nervous system. It is impossible to cure such a cough with syrups; you can simply wait until the irritation of the cough center subsides and therapeutically alleviate the symptoms.

Whooping cough is an attack consisting of many coughing impulses, following each other, without the ability to breathe. At the end of the attack, the patient inhales convulsively with a whistling sound.

It is explained by the fact that during an attack a spasm of the glottis occurs. This is a reprise. After this, vomiting or simply mucus discharge is usually observed. All these symptoms are characteristic only of whooping cough infection. The severity of the disease in a child is determined by the duration and severity of the attacks. After the onset of a period of spasmodic coughing for about 10 days, the severity of the symptoms only increases, and then very slowly begins to subside.

Cough cannot be treated symptomatically, but there are mandatory therapeutic measures for children under one year of age. For such babies, respiratory arrest, coughing attacks and the accumulation of large amounts of mucus in the respiratory tract are typical.

Whooping cough in children can lead to serious complications:

  • pneumonia,
  • deafness,
  • acute laryngitis,
  • hernia,
  • encephalopathy,
  • epileptic seizures.

The last stage - recovery - can last up to 2 months. At this stage, the child is no longer a source of an infectious bacillus.

Treatment of whooping cough

The symptoms that occur during the catarrhal period are indistinguishable from ordinary acute respiratory infections, and therefore are treated traditionally. At the next stage, when whooping cough in children is diagnosed by characteristic cough, antibiotics are prescribed. Infectious agents, on the one hand, are not susceptible to all types of antibiotics. On the other hand, they do not know how to adapt to medications, so they are successfully treated with the same proven remedies.

The doctor prescribes the appropriate antibiotic and dosage, and the parents' task is to relieve the symptoms. The most common antibiotics to fight infection are chloramphenicol or erythromycin. The visible effect occurs within the next two days. If symptoms do not subside, add new drug. There is a specific anti-pertussis gammaglobulin, which is very effective at the catarrhal stage; it is administered intramuscularly.

The main symptom of whooping cough is severe persistent cough followed by vomiting or discharge of mucus. It is much easier to tolerate in a damp room or in the air; it is easiest to get sick with it in winter.

The child is advised to drink, walk if well-being allows, and as much entertainment and distraction as possible. The fact is that severe coughing attacks are associated, as has been described, with irritation of the nerve center. Therefore, strong positive impressions and emotions that distract the child really help in the treatment of whooping cough in children, as they activate other nerve centers, the irritation weakens and the symptoms do not appear as severe.

If the child is small and coughing fits may cause changes in lung tissue, use oxygen therapy, oxygen pillows or masks. The main thing is to prevent tissue hypoxia.

During the most severe period of spasmodic cough, antipsychotic drugs are prescribed to reduce the number and intensity of attacks. The most common are anomysine, propazine and atropine. Traditional expectorants are contraindicated because the source of cough is in the nervous system and not in the respiratory tract.

Whooping cough in children under 2 years of age

Young children experience signs of the disease with difficulty and need medical care. The initial period for them does not last a week, like for older children, but literally two to three days. They need bed rest and as calm an environment as possible. The slightest concern can cause another coughing attack.

The conditions in the ward for the treatment of whooping cough in children must be special:

  1. A well-ventilated room with humidifiers, shaded and quiet.
  2. Drinking should be frequent and small, at room temperature.
  3. The room needs to be wet cleaned several times a day.
  4. After a coughing attack in a child under one year old, it is necessary to clear the nose of mucus, and wash the rubber bulb after each suction.
  5. It is extremely important to thoroughly and regularly rid your child of accumulated mucus.

How younger child, the more likely there are long pauses in breathing after an attack, from several seconds to a minute. Necrosis of the lung tissue and changes in the heart muscle are possible. Infants are at greater risk of complications from oxygen starvation during a spasmodic cough, so it is best for infants to endure the disease in a hospital, under the supervision of doctors. At frequent vomiting baby will need intravenous administration liquids.

Whooping cough vaccine

The advent of vaccination against this infection has saved thousands of children's lives, since in severe form whooping cough can lead to fatal complications.

The child is vaccinated for the first time at 3 months, and then regular revaccinations are carried out - three times every 45 days. Another revaccination occurs at 2 - 2.5 years. Vaccination does not provide 100% protection, but in case of infection, it will prevent the infection from becoming severe and prevent complications. In vaccinated children or adults, whooping cough occurs in the so-called atypical form and are usually undiagnosed, making them a source of very dangerous infection for unvaccinated children.

Vaccinations are very important because whooping cough in children is very common and can be extremely dangerous. It is detected much less frequently than in reality, since it can occur easily and even unnoticed. Unvaccinated children under 7 years of age who have been in contact with a sick person must be quarantined for two weeks and sent for examination. Children under one year old in the same situation should receive measles immunoglobulin.

A person who has recovered from the disease acquires strong lifelong immunity. Whooping cough can recur in a person with a weakened immune system or in old age, but it does not cause complications and goes away easily.

Whooping cough is one of the airborne diseases, the main symptom of which is a spasmodic cough. The prevalence of whooping cough in our country is recent years began to increase, which is due, among other things, to the increasing number of refusals and unfounded medical exemptions from preventive vaccinations.

It is important for everyone to know the main symptoms of whooping cough in order to contact a specialist in time to prescribe the correct treatment.

Causes of whooping cough

Infection with whooping cough is possible only from a person - a patient (in any form, including a mild, erased version of whooping cough) or a carrier (rarely). The most contagious are patients in initial period when whooping cough is very difficult to suspect.

The susceptibility of children to whooping cough in the absence of vaccinations is close to 100%, that is, after contact with a sick child, a child who has not been vaccinated against the disease will almost certainly get sick.

After past illness immunity is formed, which was previously considered stable for life, but now this position is disputed by some researchers. But, in any case, a child who has had whooping cough once (or has been vaccinated against it) will have minimal chances of getting sick in the future, and if he does get sick, it will be in a mild form.

Symptoms of whooping cough

The incubation period (when the pathogen has already entered the body, but symptoms have not yet appeared) is, according to various sources, from 2 to 20 days, on average about a week. At the end of incubation, whooping cough itself begins, which is characterized by a cyclic course with a successive change of three periods of the disease: catarrhal, spasmodic and resolution period.

Catarrhal period

The duration of the catarrhal period is 1-2 weeks; in vaccinated children it can be extended to 3 weeks. The child's condition is satisfactory, his health is not affected, his body temperature usually does not rise, and low-grade fever is possible (temperature within 37.5 °C). Constant and frequent the only symptom– unproductive (without sputum discharge), sometimes obsessive cough, mainly in the evening and at night. Main feature– the cough is persistent and continues to get worse despite treatment.

Spasmodic period

Typical manifestation Whooping cough is a debilitating paroxysmal cough.

Gradually, the cough acquires a paroxysmal character - a spasmodic period begins - the height of the disease, fraught with the development of complications, especially dangerous for children in the first year of life.

Coughing attacks with whooping cough are very peculiar; nothing similar is observed in any other diseases. On one exhalation, the child “comes into a fit” with a whole series of coughing impulses, after which a convulsive, whistling inhalation occurs (reprise), then on exhalation, another cough, etc. An attack of a series of coughing shocks, interspersed with reprises, can last for several minutes and ends with the discharge of viscous transparent or whitish sputum; vomiting is typical at the end of the attack. Involuntary urination or bowel movements may occur.

Characteristic appearance a child during a coughing attack: he sticks out his tongue strongly, his face becomes puffy, turns red and then becomes burgundy-bluish, his lips turn blue, tears flow from his eyes. The veins in the neck swell and sweating increases. Often, due to overexertion, hemorrhages occur in the sclera, skin of the face and upper half of the body (small red dots on the skin and burst blood vessels in the whites of the eyes).

The duration of the spasmodic period is from 2 weeks to a month. If there are no complications, then outside of a coughing attack, the children’s condition is normal, the temperature is not elevated. Children are active, play, and do not refuse food.

In severe forms of whooping cough, the frequency of attacks can reach 30 or more per day, due to which sleep is disturbed, shortness of breath appears, appetite is reduced, and complications develop more often. The face is constantly swollen, with hemorrhages on the skin and sclera.

Resolution period

Very slowly, coughing attacks begin to subside, their severity and duration decrease, and the intervals between coughing paroxysms increase - the spasmodic period turns into a period of resolution, which lasts another 1-2 months. The total duration of whooping cough can thus reach 3 months or even more, about a third of which the child suffers from painful coughing attacks.

Erased forms of whooping cough in vaccinated children

As already mentioned, vaccinated children, if they get whooping cough, do so in a mild form. They do not have debilitating cough paroxysms, but an unproductive cough (or coughing) is persistent, disturbing the child for a month or longer.

Symptoms that are almost identical to those of the erased form of whooping cough have parawhooping cough: a disease caused by a similar pathogen. with parawhooping cough, it is also long-lasting and can be paroxysmal, but the attacks themselves are much easier. Complications from parawhooping cough are unlikely.

Complications of whooping cough

Complications develop very often in infants, as well as in severe forms of the disease. They may be associated with the addition of secondary microflora (,) or due to cough paroxysms ( spontaneous pneumothorax). One of the most severe complications is (brain damage due to whooping cough due to impaired blood flow and insufficient oxygen supply due to repeated coughing attacks). With encephalopathy, confusion and loss of consciousness are noted.

If secondary microflora joins and pneumonia develops, the child’s temperature may rise sharply, and in addition to coughing, signs of general intoxication (lethargy, loss of appetite) and constant shortness of breath appear.

Diagnostics


Whooping cough can be suspected based on clinical manifestations.

The diagnosis of whooping cough is quite easy to establish only on the basis clinical picture: presence of typical cough paroxysms. But for this, two conditions are necessary: ​​the doctor must see this very paroxysm, which is very unlikely if the child is not treated in a hospital, because attacks can be rare and occur mainly in the evening and at night; will help here practical experience and physician alertness to whooping cough.

Therefore, do not hesitate to draw the pediatrician’s attention to the features of your child’s cough: how it begins, how it proceeds, and what the child looks like when coughing. I'll bring you own example: Having started my practical work as a pediatrician, I never saw whooping cough “live”, and, in fact, I did not expect that it actually occurs at the present time (as it turned out, it even occurs quite often). And after 2 months of work - the first case: a six-month-old baby, whose attentive mother convinced me of the presence of whooping cough, who described in detail a typical whooping cough paroxysm, which I would not have seen for a long time, since the child coughed only at night.

To confirm the diagnosis of whooping cough based on symptoms, laboratory methods are additionally used:

General blood test– hyperleukocytosis is detected (the number of leukocytes increases 3-4 times compared to the age norm).

Bacteriological examination of mucus smear from the back wall of the pharynx - more often gives a false negative result, since bacteria are easily detected in a smear only in the catarrhal period, when no one even thinks of examining a child for whooping cough.

Serological diagnosis – detection of specific antibodies to whooping cough in blood taken from a vein. The method is accurate, but expensive, so it is not used in clinics and hospitals.


Treatment

In mild and moderate cases, whooping cough can be successfully treated at home (under the supervision of a doctor, of course). Severe forms illness and whooping cough in children under one year require treatment in a hospital due to high risk development of complications.


Mode

To improve the child’s condition and replenish oxygen deficiency, it is necessary to ensure a constant flow of fresh air: regularly ventilate the room, open the window during sleep (if the outside air temperature allows), and take a daily walk (at an air temperature of -10 to +25°C). Coughing attacks are not contraindications for walking fresh air, but to avoid infecting other children, walk with your child alone.

Active games should be avoided as they can provoke a cough paroxysm. Try to protect your sick baby from stress; you should not scold or punish children, so as not to cause crying, and with it a coughing attack.

Diet

  • spicy dishes;
  • spices and seasonings;
  • marinades;
  • salinity;
  • smoked;
  • fatty foods;
  • chocolate;
  • nuts;
  • crackers.

Drug treatment

Antibiotics

Whooping cough is easy to destroy modern antibiotics– for example, macrolides (vilprafen, sumamed). But the insidiousness of whooping cough is that the pathogen can be affected by drugs only in the catarrhal period - and at this time it is very difficult to guess the presence of whooping cough, and antibiotics are not prescribed. Their use in the future is not only pointless, but also dangerous, since antibacterial drugs can suppress their own immunity and facilitate the penetration of secondary microflora.

Antibacterial drugs are usually prescribed only in cases of pneumonia or purulent bronchitis. Antibiotics are used wide range: macrolides, cephalosporins (cephalexin, cefazolin, ceftriaxone, suprax), protected penicillins (amoxiclav).

Antitussives and expectorants

Antitussives central action, capable of inhibiting the cough reflex (sinecode, codeine, libexin, stoptussin) are used for dry coughs, but, as a rule, are ineffective in suppressing whooping cough paroxysms. More often, expectorants and mucolytics are prescribed (lazolvan, bromhexine, herbion primrose, gedelix, codelac broncho, etc.), which can facilitate the discharge of sputum and to some extent improve bronchial patency, preventing complications. Since the cough is long-lasting, usually one drug is replaced after 10-14 days with another, and, if necessary, with a third.

Drugs that relieve bronchospasm (aminofillin, berodual, etc.) do not give much results and are used according to indications.

Other drugs

Additionally, for whooping cough, antihistamines (Claritin, Zyrtec) and (valerian, motherwort) are used, in a hospital setting - sedatives and anticonvulsants, oxygen therapy.

Prevention

The main measure to prevent whooping cough is vaccination. No matter how many opponents speak out mandatory vaccination against whooping cough, the fact remains: if a child is not vaccinated, his risk of getting sick is quite high, especially if the baby is in active contact with other children. And this risk is steadily increasing along with the growth of refusals and unfounded medical objections to vaccinations.