Whooping Cough Research Paper

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Whooping cough, also known as Pertussis, is called the “whooping cough” because after people with this infectious disease cough severely, they gasp for air which sounds similar to a whooping sound. People afflicted with this disease often find have trouble breathing, eating, or sleeping because they have to cough so much. People may cough so severely that their face may turn purple or red. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, after being infected with whooping cough, around 6% of adults have passed out while around 4% have fractured ribs because of the severe coughing. Currently, there are around 16 million cases per year worldwide of people being infected with Whooping cough, most of those being in developing countries. Of those, 195,000 cases result in death.
Whooping cough is a highly infectious respiratory disease that can affect people of all ages. While this disease is not usually deadly, it can be life- threatening to babies less than 12- months old. This disease is also sometimes called the “100 Day cough” because this infection can last up to 10 weeks or more. (CDC).
Early symptoms of whooping cough are similar to those of the common cold which include coughing and runny noses. Later on, people will exhibit more serious …show more content…

This disease can also occasionally be caused by Bordetella bronchiseptica. Bordetella pertussis are aerobic coccobacilli which are gram- negative, human- specific pathogens. This bacteria thus uses aerobic respiration for metabolism. This bacteria is “encapsulated and does not produce spores” (NCBI) B. pertussis typically lives in the human respiratory mucosa although it may survive for a few days on contaminated objects. The bacteria attach to cilia that is part of the upper respiratory epithelium and harm them by releasing toxins in the area. This leads to the inflammation of the

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