Whooping cough definition: Whooping cough is a serious infectious disease which causes people to cough and make a... | Meaning, pronunciation, translations and examples Make sure you and your loved ones are up to date with your whooping cough vaccines. While people of any age can contract whooping cough, children under the age of two are at the highest risk for both the disease and for serious complications and Whooping cough has four somewhat overlapping stages: incubation, catarrhal stage, paroxysmal stage, and convalescent stage.The catarrhal stage is often mistaken for an exceedingly heavy cold. Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!Learn a new word every day. See more. How to pronounce whooping cough. an infectious disease characterized by catarrh of the respiratory tract and peculiar paroxysms of coughing, ending in a prolonged crowing or whooping respiration; the causative organism is An acute infectious inflammation of the larynx, trachea, and bronchi caused by A highly contagious disease of the respiratory system, usually affecting children, that is caused by the bacterium An acute infectious inflammation of the larynx, trachea, and bronchi caused by Bordetella pertussis; characterized by recurrent bouts of spasmodic coughing that continues until the breath is exhausted, then ends in a noisy inspiratory stridor (the "whoop") caused by laryngeal spasm. Whooping Cough Symptoms. The patient has teary eyes, sneezing, The paroxysmal stage, lasting two to four weeks, begins with the development of the characteristic whooping cough. Learn more. Runny nose. Listen to the audio pronunciation in the Cambridge English Dictionary. After the cilia and the cells bearing those cilia, are damaged, the process cannot be reversed. This can cause: Brain damage or bleeding on the brain. A person may cough so hard that they vomit, break ribs, or become ve… Whooping cough vaccines offer the best protection against this very contagious disease. Such a patient will experience the full progression of whooping cough symptoms; symptoms will only improve when the old, damaged lining cells of the respiratory tract are replaced over time with new, healthy, cilia-bearing cells. "Natural Course of 500 Consecutive Casesof Whooping Cough: A General Practice Population Study." Some may vomit.Sometimes adults with the condition just have a cough that wonât go away.Whooping cough is dangerous in babies, especially ones younger than 6 months old, If you think your infant might have it, see their doctor right away.Children under the age of 18 months with whooping cough should be watched at all times because the coughing spells can make them stop breathing. Whooping cough: Whooping cough, also known as "pertussis," is a highly contagious acute respiratory illness caused by the Bordetella pertussis bacteria. Whooping cough Definition. whooping cough definition: 1. a disease, common especially in children, that causes severe coughing 2. a disease, common…. Initial symptoms are usually similar to those of the common cold with a runny nose, fever, and mild cough, but these are followed by weeks of severe coughing fits. The coughing may last for 10 or more weeks, hence the phrase "100-day cough". At first, whooping cough has the same symptoms as the average cold:. Definition of whooping cough written for English Language Learners from the Merriam-Webster Learner's Dictionary with audio pronunciations, usage examples, and count/noncount noun labels. Whooping cough is characterized by fits of coughing followed by a noisy, "whooping" sound while inhaling.. Usually, whooping cough affects young children, but sometimes teenagers and adults can become infected. You can get sick from it even if you've already been vaccinated, but that's not likely.Because symptoms of whooping cough are a lot like those caused by a cold, the flu, or bronchitis, it can be hard to diagnose it early on. Whooping cough (pertussis) is a highly contagious respiratory tract infection. During the early phase of pertussis, antibiotic treatment may decrease the duration and severity of the cough, but among adolescents and adults, the diagnosis rarely is established during this phase. All content on this website, including dictionary, thesaurus, literature, geography, and other reference data is for informational purposes only. Following a fit of coughing, a high-pitched whoop sound or gasp may occur as the person breathes in. However, treatment with erythromycin is still recommended, to decrease the likelihood of Just under 1% of all cases of whooping cough cause death. Spasms of uncontrollable coughing, the "whooping" sound of the sharp inspiration of air, and vomiting are all hallmarks of this stage. Whooping cough definition is - an infectious respiratory disease especially of children caused by a bacterium (Bordetella pertussis) and marked by a convulsive spasmodic cough sometimes followed by a crowing intake of breath —called also pertussis. Some children have such greatly increased abdominal pressure during coughing that hernias result (hernias are the abnormal protrusion of a loop of intestine through a weak area of muscle). Keeping the air around you free of dust, smoke, and other irritants can help soothe coughing.Drink fluids. Your doctor may be able to tell that you have it by the sound of your cough, but tests can confirm it.Nose or throat culture. Whooping cough, also known as pertussis or the 100-day cough, is a highly contagious bacterial disease. If someone in your household has whooping cough, make sure they cover their mouth or cough into their elbow to keep from spreading the bacteria. The whoop is believed to occur due to inflammation and mucous which narrow the breathing tubes, causing the patient to struggle to get air into his/her lungs; the effort results in intense exhaustion. Severely ill children may have great difficult maintaining the normal level of oxygen in their systems, and may appear somewhat blue after a paroxysm of coughing, due to the low oxygen content of their blood. The severe coughing can also cause:When the bacteria get into your airways, they attach to the tiny hairs in the linings of theWhooping cough can cause anyone at any age to get sick.