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Whooping cough or pertussis, as it is called in medical parlance, is a contagious disease. Unlikesome other diseases, a new born baby has no immunity to this disease, and can get it any timeafter birth. It commonly affects infants during the first year of their life, when it is very severe andmost of the deaths due to it occur during this period. Many cases occur in children upto 5 yearsof age. In some cases children upto 12 years may also be affected. The disease may causeserious trouble in the lungs.This highly infectious disease is caused by bacteria. It spreads rapidly from one child to anotherby droplet-infection. This is especially so during the early catarrhal stage,but once the typicalspasmodic bout starts, the infectivity becomes negligible. This disease has a prolonged courseof 8 to 10 weeks.

Symptoms

The disease has a catarrhal and a spasmodic stage. For the first week, the cough is like anordinary upper respiratory catarrh. At the end of a week, it becomes spasmodic and comes inbouts, initially more often during the night, but later during the day as well. The child goes oncoughing. His face becomes red and suffused, the tongue protrudes and the eyes begin towater. At the end of the bout, the child takes a deep breath, and there is a prolonged croakingsound which is called a whoop. This sound is produced by the air entering through a partiallyclosed glottis ( entrance to the larynx). This gives the disease its name. The child brings out asticky secretion from his nose and mouth and very often vomits. At the end of the bout, the childlies back exhausted. Gradually, over the next three or four weeks, the bouts of cough and theirduration become less and disappear in about 8 to 10 weeks from the beginning of the disease.In immunized children, the disease is mild and atypical.Due to the severity of bouts of cough, bleeding can occur into the eyes, from the nose, the lung,and , in rare cases, into the brain, resulting in convulsions. In many young children, lungcomplications such as collapse of a part of the lung are common because of the thick stickynature of the secretions blocking the passage of air to a part of the lung. Secondary infectionmay result in pneumonia. They may be convulsions, and, in rare cases, inflammation of thebrain.

Causes

Whooping cough is caused by the micro-organisms Bordetella pertussis and Bordetellaparapertussis. Of these, the first one gives the rise to more severe infections. Whooping coughis also associated with various adinoviruses,para-influenza and respiratory viruses. The actualcause of the disease, however, is wrong feeding of children with refined and deminralised foodsand absence of a sufficient quantity of fresh fruits and salad vegetables in their dietary. Thisresults in accumulation of excessive quantities of catarrh and mucus in the child’s system. Thedisease is an attempt on the part of the nature to throw out this catarrh and mucus. The use ofdrugs to treat other diseases can also lead to whooping cough.

Treatment

In the beginning of the treatment, the child should be placed on a fast, on orange juice and waterfor few days. He should be given the juice of an orange diluted with warm water on 50 : 50 basis.He should not be given milk or anything else. He should be given warm water enema dailyduring this period to cleanse the bowels. In case of constipation, a mild laxative, preferablycastor oil, should be administered. This will also relieve the pain in the abdominal muscles whichare usually strained during the paroxysms of coughing. Cold packs should be applied to thethroat and upper chest as required. Epsom-salt baths will be beneficial during this period.After the more sever symptoms have cleared, the patient should be placed on an exclusive dietof fresh fruits for a few days. IN this regimen, we should take fresh juicy fruits such as apple,orange, pineapple and papaya. After further recovery, he can adopt a regular well-balanced diet,according to his age. The emphasis should be on fresh fruit, fruit and vegetable juices and milk.When the convalescent stage has been reached, the child should be encouraged to spend asmuch time as possible out of doors.

Home Remedies

Certain home remedies have been found beneficial in the treatment of whooping cough. Themost effective of these remedies is the use of garlic. The syrup of garlic should be given in thedosage of five drops to a tablespoon two or three times a day for treating this condition. It shouldbe given more often if the coughing spells are frequent and violent.Ginger ( adrak) is another effective remedy for whooping cough. A teaspoon of fresh gingerjuice, mixed with a cup of fenugreek ( methi) decoction and honey to taste, is an excellentdiaphoretic. It acts as an expectorant in this disease.A syrup prepared by mixing a teaspoon of fresh radish (muli) with equal quantity of honey and alittle rock salt, is beneficial in the treatment of this disease. It should be given thrice daily.Almond (badam) oil is valuable in whooping cough. It should be given missed with 10 dropseach of fresh white onion juice and ginger juice, daily thrice for a fortnight . It will give relief.

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