For babies, who have small airways, that risk turns into danger. The irritation and swelling that causes the characteristic "whoop" in young children can get bad, very bad, and even kill them.
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The solution is to vaccinate the community so that family members don't pass the germ on to babies.
may 25, 2025, 4:49 pm • 0 0 • view
If you're thinking my son had gotten pertussis back in the dark ages, this was less than ten years ago. Both times he lost a season of competition in his sport and a lot of school. Antibiotics clear the infection, but the lung symptoms continue for several weeks.
may 25, 2025, 4:49 pm • 1 0 • view
Where it's dangerous is when people with small airways get whooping
may 25, 2025, 4:49 pm • 0 0 • view
I was vaccinated with everything you could get as a child born in 1971, and I got pertussis when I was about 11. I wasn't sick enough to need hospital treatment, but I still have vivid memories of what it felt like, and an enduring hatred for the taste of sweet cough syrups.
may 25, 2025, 6:56 pm • 1 0 • view
Even best case it's a horrible illness, even if you're old enough for it not to be dangerous. You sleep for a few minutes and then that violent cough yanks you awake again (and your parents, too!). And this goes on for weeks and weeks after the infection has cleared.
may 25, 2025, 8:17 pm • 1 0 • view
I have vivid memories of mucus literally pouring out of me as I coughed uncontrollably.
may 26, 2025, 1:07 am • 1 0 • view
The first time my baby had a cold my dad kept asking me to hold him up to the phone so he could hear the cough. When he was a kid, there were no antibiotics, you would get someone who had a car to drive you around with the windows rolled down, to force cool night air into the tiny lungs.
may 26, 2025, 2:25 am • 1 0 • view