Whooping Cough

We took the kids to the doctor (yet again, for the third or fourth time in a week or two), and Karston has whooping cough. If you listen to the "Sound of a child with whooping cough WITHOUT whooping" link, that's exactly what Karston sounded like last night just before he threw up. Karston's symptoms match a pertussis diagnosis quite well, so Dr. Goldbach made a savvy call.

What I learned from some online research is that you can get whooping cough even if you're vaccinated, but you get a milder case (so even if it doesn't prevent all pertussis, the vaccine is still a good idea); the vaccine also wears off over time if you don't get a booster. Adults are a "reservoir" of pertussis since we get milder cases, and the transmission rate within a household is 75 to 80%. Most pertussis is mild, and goes largely undiagnosed and unreported. Most people with whooping cough don't make the whooping sound; only about half of the infected children do. Whooping cough has also been called the hundred day cough (ick!).

So that means this week, both kids are on an antibiotic that tastes vile. Poor kids! However, it's the only way to keep Cale from catching whooping cough, and I don't want him on this ride.