Previously, this disease was considered exclusively childish. The Ministry of Health reports disappointing statistics that every year more and more adults become infected with this infection. Diagnosing it at the initial stage is extremely difficult, it is difficult both at an early age and in adulthood. Consider the causes of whooping cough, and also learn the most effective methods of treatment.
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Ways of infection and causes of whooping cough
It is an infectious disease transmitted by airborne droplets from a sick person to a healthy person. It has a damaging effect on the upper respiratory tract, causing coughing attacks. You can become infected with a short contact with the carrier of the infection.
The whole difficulty lies in the fact that the carrier itself may not suspect that he was ill, since pertussis at an early stage proceeds without pronounced symptoms. They can easily be confused with a common viral disease or flu. You can also get infected from someone who is just a carrier.
Symptoms and signs of pertussis in adults
This disease is quite long and can last from a month to two. The entire period can be divided into three stages.
Stage No. 1.
It lasts several weeks.
During this period, the infected person may manifest the following symptoms:
- coughing attacks;
- sneezing, causing a runny nose;
- a slight increase in body temperature (not observed in all cases).
To use drugs that stop coughing attacks, at this stage is useless. After the second week, it will increase. Nighttime ailments will become more noticeable.So the infection goes into the second stage.
Stage No. 2.
It may last a few more weeks. Coughing becomes spasmodic. His attacks are accompanied by mucous secretions from the larynx. The face of the patient during the attack becomes purple, the tongue falls out of the mouth, as a result of which the bridle can be injured. Small vessels in the eyes may burst and hemorrhage in the eyeball may occur. This is the most difficult stage, then the infection is on the decline.
Stage number 3.
The attacks of coughing are reduced, they pass to a lighter, sparing degree. The patient's well-being improves, all the symptoms that accompany whooping cough subside. Spasmodic cough may still appear for some time against the background of respiratory viral infections.
Diagnosis of pertussis
It is extremely difficult to determine it at an early stage, since the symptoms characteristic of the initial stage are similar to those of SARS and flu. That is why patients either do not pay much attention to rare coughing fits, or take special medications on their own. And doctors can not always diagnose this infection in the first stage.
The most effective diagnostic methods are a nasopharyngeal swab and culture. A blood test is not informative, as it will only show the presence of infection in the body and no more. In order to diagnose whooping cough, the doctor sends the patient to the laboratory and, based on the results of the analysis, concludes that the patient has a disease.
Whooping cough during pregnancy
This disease poses the greatest danger during pregnancy in the early stages, when the fetus and all major vital systems are being formed. Pertussis transferred in the first trimester can threaten the occurrence of serious pathologies in the child. That is why a pregnant woman should be especially careful about her health and try to protect herself from various infectious diseases.
There are cases when whooping cough causes a miscarriage, therefore, at the first signs of the disease, you must consult a specialist. He diagnoses the disease and prescribes treatment that will not have a harmful effect on the fetus and will not affect the general health of the pregnant woman and her unborn child.
Therapy includes a course of antibiotics. They must be drunk before the onset of the second stage of the disease. This will allow you to "intercept" the disease at an early stage and help to avoid serious consequences. A pregnant woman is selected a special drug that is allowed to be used in her position. It is necessary to drink a full course to completely suppress the focus of infection.
Many women are extremely negative about the use of drugs during the period of bearing a child, therefore they are treated with folk remedies. This is extremely dangerous, since only a doctor can prescribe the correct treatment. Also, pertussis symptoms are similar to many other diseases. That is why it is so important to correctly diagnose the disease and begin treatment immediately.
Pertussis treatment
If this disease proceeds in a mild form without loss of consciousness, cessation of breathing at the time of a convulsive cough and fever, then treatment can be carried out at home. For more serious forms, hospitalization and vigilant medical supervision are necessary. The most common way to treat this infection is to prescribe antibiotics. But more and more often you can meet those who use traditional medicine and treat whooping cough with it. Consider both of these ways to combat the disease.
Antibiotic treatment
The doctor prescribes antibiotics in a strictly individual order, choosing his own medicine for every adult. Therefore, if your friend or neighbor was prescribed one remedy to combat this infection, it is not at all necessary that it will suit you, but rather the opposite. Therefore, do not self-medicate in any case.A treatment plan should be drawn up by a doctor and only by his prescription the patient must take all medicines.
Most often, doctors prescribe strong antibiotics, since the disease is quite serious and half measures are not enough. The patient is prescribed not only a medicine, but also a schedule for taking it. It is also selected individually, based on the characteristics of the body of each infected person. Most often prescribed Erythromycin and Azithromycin. These drugs are available in pharmacies strictly according to the prescription, since they are potent antibiotics.
Traditional treatment
A number of folk remedies treating whooping cough are approved by doctors. But this does not mean that you do not need to contact specialists to confirm the diagnosis and prescribe therapy. Grandmother’s healing recipes will be most effective and appropriate if you use them together with medicines. Consider the most effective traditional medicine that can help in the fight against whooping cough.
Method number 1.
We take 250 ml. vegetable oil (you can take any other) and 4 large garlic cloves. Grind them and add to the oil. Heat on fire for five minutes. The cooled oil with garlic is taken on a teaspoon in the morning, afternoon and evening for several days.
Method number 2.
You need to take a couple of tablespoons of chopped sunflower seeds. Take one and a half glasses of water and dilute a dessert spoon of honey in them, and then add the seeds there. Cook this mixture until it halves in volume. Cooled broth take one tablespoon during the day.
You can also make various compresses and lotions, but the funds taken orally have a greater effect.
Possible consequences and complications
If the infection could not be cured at an early stage, then it goes into the chronic stage.
It is extremely dangerous and threatens the patient with a number of serious consequences:
- Problems with the lungs and bronchi that cause bronchitis and pneumonia. This happens because the focus of infection is constantly present in the lungs.
- Causes pathologies in the brain characterized by loss of consciousness and seizures.
- At the time of a convulsive cough, hemorrhage in the eyeballs and in the brain is possible.
- Constant coughing can cause umbilical hernia.
- Chronic whooping cough can be fatal in adulthood.
- Failures in breathing can lead to heart and lung failure.
The consequences of the disease are very serious, so do not delay the treatment of a specialist and treatment.
Disease prevention
The Ministry of Health of Russia recommends that vaccination be mandatory. A mandatory vaccine also includes whooping cough vaccine. It is part of DTP, which in three stages is done to children at an early age. People in adulthood are immunized - they inject immunoglobulin, which has antibodies to this disease. Thus, pertussis prophylaxis occurs.
Since this infection is transmitted by airborne droplets, contact with sick people should be avoided. But this is extremely difficult, because at the time of the incubation period, the disease may not manifest itself and even the patient himself will not know about the presence of infection in the body. Therefore, the most reasonable and effective prevention is vaccination according to the established schedule.
