What is the Treatment for Whooping Cough in Adults?

Coughing is sometimes taken very lightly by a lot of people. Some of us see it only as a minor irritation on the throat that we sometimes take it for granted. However, ignored coughing could definitely become something serious. This symptom could actually be a sign of an underlying diseases or illness in our respiratory system. As we all know, our respiratory system is always at high risk of having infections. One of the most common and also harmful infections in our respiratory tract is probably the whooping cough. So what is whooping cough? Is this kind of infection fatal? What is the treatment for whooping cough in adults?

Whooping cough, or otherwise known as pertussis, is a type of severe respiratory system infection that is caused by a bacterium called Bordatella pertussis. This particular disease is distinct from other types of respiratory infections since it is characterized by a severe coughing spells that usually end with a whooping sound upon inhalation of the infected person. This type of cough usually last for weeks and even months, it is even called as the 100-day cough since it usually lasts for a very long time. Nowadays, whooping cough is now becoming very common all over the world since it has already affected thousands of people, both the young and old. Before, whooping cough is only considered to be an illness of infants and small children. Nevertheless, as the years pass by, more and more teenagers and adults become victims to this awful disease.

The symptoms of whooping cough posed by adults are very different from those that are shown by children. Some cases have shown that adults exhibit milder reactions compared to children. Some adults may not even show any symptoms at all. However, despite being mild or asymptomatic, infected adults are still capable of transmitting this disease especially to those susceptible people such as the sick or the infants or baby. According to statistics, most spread of pertussis usually comes from an infected elderly or adult person.

What are the treatments? Treatment for adults and babies usually differ from each other. Infants are usually brought to the hospital since most of them cannot cope with the severity of the disease. Other doctors would even require IV fluids in order to increase the hydration of the body. However, an adults suffering from whooping cough can be treated only at home. Adults are only required to take in antibiotics in order to kill the causative bacterium. Preventive antibiotics may also be handed to the family members to prevent the spread. Cough relief is also necessary so as to hinder the continuous coughing. These are just some of the treatment methods that we could use in order to fight off Bordatella pertussis or the whooping cough.

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