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The severity of whooping cough in hospitalised children--is it declining?
Insights
Whooping cough (pertussis) in children often led to prolonged illness with severe coughing and feeding issues. While infants remained most vulnerable, the disease showed signs of decreasing severity over time, possibly due to treatments like erythromycin.
Area of Science:
- Pediatrics
- Infectious Diseases
- Public Health
Background:
- Whooping cough (pertussis) is a significant respiratory illness in children.
- Understanding disease severity and trends is crucial for public health interventions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review the clinical characteristics and severity of whooping cough admissions.
- To identify trends in disease severity over a defined period.
- To explore potential factors influencing changes in pertussis severity.
Main Methods:
- Retrospective review of 460 hospital admissions for whooping cough.
- Data collected from three hospitals between 1974 and 1979.
- Analysis of illness duration, coughing severity, feeding difficulties, and complications.
Main Results:
- Most children experienced prolonged illness, with over 50% having severe coughing spasms and 25% facing feeding difficulties.
- Clinical pneumonia and convulsions were infrequent, and no deaths were recorded.
- Infants remained the most severely affected age group.
- Evidence suggested a decline in disease severity during the study period.
Conclusions:
- Whooping cough continues to pose a significant threat, particularly to infants.
- Increased use of erythromycin may have contributed to a potential decrease in pertussis severity.
- Ongoing surveillance and treatment strategies are vital for managing pertussis.
Abstract:
Four hundred and sixty admissions for whooping cough to three hospitals between 1974-9 were reviewed. Many children had a long illness. More than half of them had severe or moderately severe coughing spasms and a quarter had pronounced feeding difficulties. The incidence of clinical pneumonia and convulsions was low and there were no deaths. The disease continues to be much more severe in infancy. There was some evidence that the disease declined in severity over the period studied. A number of factors including increased use of erythromycin may have contributed to this change.