Can adults get whooping cough UK?

You can get whooping cough at any age, but young babies and children are more likely to have severe symptoms and develop complications. A vaccination is available to prevent this. Whooping cough used to be very common in the UK.

How do adults get rid of whooping cough?

Whooping cough is usually treated with antibiotics, which can help reduce the severity or length of time it takes to recover from the illness. However, antibiotics aren’t likely to help if the cough has persisted for more than two to three weeks. Taking cough medications probably will not help ease symptoms.

Can adults carry whooping cough?

Symptoms in adults Share on Pinterest Whooping cough can affect adults and it is often less severe than in children. Adults tend to experience less severe symptoms of whooping cough compared with children. The reason for this is that adults have built up immunity from previous infections and vaccinations.

Is there a whooping cough epidemic in UK?

There have been several outbreaks of whooping cough in the UK in recent years (including 2012) and work is ongoing to develop vaccines that will give even better protection.

Can a child get whooping cough from an adult?

Whooping cough, or pertussis, is a highly contagious bacterial infection that affects the respiratory tract. Although whooping cough usually produces milder symptoms in adults, it can cause severe illness in infants and young children. There are two forms of vaccine that protect against whooping cough.

How did whooping cough get its name from?

Whooping cough gets its name from its most famous symptom — a “whoop” sound you might make when you gasp for air at the end of a coughing fit. But it doesn’t happen in all adults, so it’s important to learn the range of symptoms you might get — from a runny nose to a hacking cough that you can’t seem to shake. Early Signs.

What’s the best way to prevent whooping cough?

The best way to prevent whooping cough is with the pertussis vaccine, which doctors often give in combination with vaccines against two other serious diseases — diphtheria and tetanus. Doctors recommend beginning vaccination during infancy. The vaccine consists of a series of five injections, typically given to children at these ages:

Who is most likely to die from whooping cough?

Before the vaccine was developed, whooping cough was considered a childhood disease. Now whooping cough primarily affects children too young to have completed the full course of vaccinations and teenagers and adults whose immunity has faded. Deaths associated with whooping cough are rare but most commonly occur in infants.