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Pertussis Paper

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Pertussis Paper There are many different childhood diseases out there. Each one of these affects the child in a different way. However some of these diseases occur more often than others. So when narrowing down which topic to write about for this pediatric paper I decided to write about one that is more common and more than likely not very well known, despite being common. So it is for that reason that I chose to write about pertussis.
Pertussis is a highly contagious respiratory disease and is also known as whooping cough. This disease is caused by the bacterium Bordetella pertussis (B. pertussis) mostly (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2015). However the bacterium Bordetella parapertussis (B. parapertussis) is also known to cause …show more content…

The bacteria first settles into the nasopharynx and ends up mostly in the bronchi and bronchioles (Bocka, 2015). This parallelization causes inflammation of the respiratory tract that interferes with getting the mucus from the airways (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2015). It also compromises the small airways and more prone to atelectasis, cough, cyanosis and pneumonia (Bocka, 2015). Most times outbreaks occur during when the seasons start to change between late summer and early fall (Bocka, 2015). Pertussis is considered to be a droplet precaution and can be spread from face-to-face contact, sharing of space, or contact with oral/nasal/respiratory secretions of someone who is infected (Bocka, 2015). Before it was believed to be transmitted to the infants from the mother but studies have shown that it is more common to come from the siblings (Bocka, …show more content…

These signs and symptoms can be divided into three stages and they are catarrhal stage, paroxysmal stage and convalescent stage (Bocka, 2015). Catarrhal is the first stage and may last one to two weeks (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2015). The presentation is nasal congestion, rhinorrhea, sneezing, low-grade fever, tearing and conjunctival suffusion (Bocka, 2015). It is during this stage that it is hard to distinguish from a common upper respiratory infection (Bocka, 2015). The second stage, paroxysmal stage and it can last from one to six weeks, however it may extend up to ten weeks (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2015). This stage produces: posttussive vomiting and turning red with coughing and paroxysms (coughing fits) of intense coughing lasting up to several minutes, occasionally followed by a loud whoop, vomiting and exhaustion after a paroxysms (Bocka, 2015). The whoop sounds occurs in infants older than six months and children, but for those who are younger than six months they have episodes of apnea (Bocka, 2015). The third and final stage, convalescent stage and lasts about two to three weeks (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2015). This stage presents with a chronic cough that may last for weeks (Bocka, 2015). If someone who has been vaccinated get pertussis their cough won’t last as many days, coughing

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