HONOLULU (KHON2) — The Hawaii Department of Health has been investigating cases of whooping cough on the Big Island that they say is not related to travel.
Dr. Trudy Hong with Straub Medical Center joined Wake Up 2Day to talk about the highly contagious respiratory infection and how you can protect yourself as well as your family.
“It’s a highly contagious respiratory infection caused by the bacteria bordetella pertussis. It can start off looking like any other cold so you can have fever, you can have sneezing, you can have a mild cough. But eventually it can develop into this very severe coughing fit where you cough so hard and eventually when you take that breath in you make that high pitched sound that sounds like the whoop in whooping cough. This cough can last from several weeks to months,” Dr. Hong said.
As for signs to look out for, Dr. Hong says “I would definitely look out for the very prolonged coughing fit and some babies can turn blue or stop breathing which I would call 911 for. If you’re concerned definitely call your doctor.”
And if you call your doctor and get it confirmed that you have whooping cough. There is a treatment.
“The treatment is call your diagnosed with it, it would be antibiotics. If you are exposed to someone who may have whooping cough then I would also talk to your doctor because you can get antibiotics to prevent infection,” Dr. Hong said.
Dr. Hong adds there is also a vaccine that can help reduce the risk of catching whooping cough and or spreading it to others.
“Usually we give the DTap to children under 7 and this is a series given before they enter school. You can also give the Tdap at age 11-12 and every 10 years there after. Pregnant woman should also get it with each pregnancy so that they can protect their newborns before they can get vaccinated.”
