The early symptoms of whooping cough can easily make people mistaken for a cold. Patients often suffer from the disease without knowing it, which may become a dark number of infections in the community.

He Ming, attending physician of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Affiliated Hospital of China Medical University, said that the life-threatening threat of pertussis in adults is relatively low, but if infants and young children with insufficient immunity are infected, they are at high risk of becoming severe and may even lead to death.

In order to prevent newborns from being exposed to whooping cough infection, pregnant women are recommended to be vaccinated against whooping cough at 28 to 37 weeks of pregnancy, so as to facilitate the transmission of antibodies to the fetus and allow the child to have protection early.

In addition, family members and caregivers are also recommended to vaccinate at the same time, and build a safe living environment for newborns through the "covering strategy".

Whooping cough is difficult to diagnose, and the number of black people in the community may be hidden. The actual number of patients may be more than 10 times the number of confirmed cases

Dr. He Ming said that whooping cough has a higher spreading ability than COVID-19, and one patient can infect 15 to 16 others. However, it is difficult to confirm the infection of a patient. The initial symptoms of whooping cough are not obvious and it is difficult to distinguish it from a cold. Doctors must Only when there is strong suspicion and sufficient evidence, will the test be confirmed. Therefore, it is reasonable to guess that there are undiagnosed patients in the community.

Dr. He Ming further explained that whooping cough is most contagious in the early stage, but the symptoms are very similar to colds and are easily ignored by patients. Therefore, under the background that patients are not isolated and most people are not vaccinated, whooping cough is easy to spread widely.

According to the statistics of the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2018, there were approximately 1.5 million confirmed cases of whooping cough worldwide, but according to epidemiological calculations, there should be 17 million cases of whooping cough. It is estimated that the epidemic situation in Taiwan is similar.

Whooping cough is the most contagious in the early stage, and infants and young children have a high rate of severe disease, with a 1% to 2% risk of death

Dr. He Ming explained that the course of whooping cough infection can be divided into three phases. The first stage is the mucosal phase for about 1 to 2 weeks. The symptoms are mostly sneezing and runny nose, but the contagion is the strongest. Then it will enter the coughing phase, and the patient will cough violently. After 1 to 2 months, the cough will sound like asthma in severe cases. Finally, it is the recovery period. The patient's symptoms gradually decrease until he recovers. Generally, the risk of severe illness is not high for adults, but it is a serious life threat for infants and young children.

Dr. He Ming emphasized that within 2 months after birth, the body does not have any resistance to pertussis. Even if the first dose of pertussis vaccine is given after 2 months of birth, the antibodies produced are not enough to fight against pertussis. Once infants are infected with pertussis, there is There is a very high risk of pneumonia or brain lesions, and the hospitalization rate is as high as 60%. If pertussis cannot be stably controlled, there is also a risk of death.

Vaccination of the mother can give the fetus antibody

With the development of the new crown pneumonia, the public began to understand that vaccine antibodies will decrease over time. Dr. He Ming reminded that the pertussis vaccine is effective for about 10 years, so most adults do not have pertussis protection. Once exposed to the source of the disease, the risk of infection and infection will increase. very high.

To protect children, family members and caregivers are recommended to get a dose of pertussis vaccine.

It is also recommended that pregnant women receive the pertussis vaccine between 28 and 37 weeks of pregnancy, and give it directly to the fetus through the placenta, so that the child can have the ability to resist pertussis when it is born, and it will be 2, 4, 6, 18 months after birth and 5 years old. At each age, one dose of whooping cough vaccine is given to maintain the protection of pertussis vaccine uninterruptedly.

(album)