What is whooping cough?

Whooping cough is highly infectious and characterised by its insidious three months of violent dog-bark coughing generated from thick mucous phlegm and a runny nose. Complications of whooping cough include otitis media (ear infection), pneumonia (inflammation of the lungs), vomiting, apnoea (temporarily not breathing) causing cyanosis (bluish colouring of skin due to inadequate oxygen in the blood); and in extreme cases lung damage, brain damage, convulsions and death. Mortality rates are highest in under one-year-olds, especially in the first few months of life. Beyond three years of age death rates are very low. Certainly, newborns under two months are the most vulnerable to this disease, as even if they have had the vaccine it may not work in time.