Mrs. Sheila Prasannan and her family’s determined fight against Pertussis (also known as ‘whooping cough’) is an experience to be shared with all. This contagious respiratory disease caused by the bacteria Bordetella pertussis infected the entire family in a matter of days, through the inadvertent transmission from mother to baby, and eventually to the rest of the family members.
Pertussis can be difficult to diagnose as the early symptoms of this disease resembles that of the common cold or bronchitis. In addition, pertussis occurs more commonly in children because its symptoms are hardly diagnosed in adults. As a result, the disease often goes undetected, misdiagnosed or under-treated in both adults and children. This was precisely what Mrs. Sheila and her baby experienced when they contracted the disease and were initially misdiagnosed.
Is it just a normal cough?
On the 12th of July 2011, Mrs. Sheila gave birth to her second son, Krishen at a hospital in Kuala Lumpur. Two weeks after discharge, she developed a mild cough and sneezing, which gradually became more frequent. Worried that she might pass on the cough to her baby while breastfeeding him, she went to a clinic for a check up. “I was informed by the clinic’s doctor that it might be my asthma recurring although I had not had asthma symptoms for 15 years. The doctor also assured me that it was safe to go on breastfeeding my son, though my doubts on this persisted” said Mrs. Sheila. She was then treated for asthma and given a course of antibiotics.
However, Mrs. Sheila’s cough became progressively worse over the next few days and was accompanied by bouts of vomiting. Sometimes, a “whoop” sound could be heard while she gasped for breath at the end of a coughing spell. Various clinics that Mrs. Sheila once again visited informed her that it was just a mild cough and would go away. Some even concluded that it was food poisoning.
Mrs. Sheila’s worst fears were confirmed when her infant son started coughing and vomiting as well. His cough increased with frequency over the next one week until he was coughing every few minutes and gasping for breath. “I took my son to a paediatrician, who told me that it was just a normal cough and that I should not overly worry about it. My son was also given a course of antibiotics. Unfortunately, his cough failed to get better. My own cough by then had become really bad and I was vomiting almost every 5 minutes. Breathing also became very difficult for me as my asthma had now recurred.” Mrs. Sheila added.
It’s pertussis!
As Mrs. Sheila and baby Krishen’s health continued to worsen, they were both taken to a nearby hospital and admitted for observation. The doctor attending her case was quick to suspect that both mother and child had contracted “whooping cough” and administered to them a course of antibiotics that is mainly used to treat the different types of respiratory infections caused by bacteria.
“The doctor explained to me that whooping cough is a very serious childhood illness and is less common in adults. In addition to fever, sneezing, vomiting, and runny nose, the severity of the cough can cause a child to turn blue or experience bleeding within the whites of the eyes during severe coughing spells. Life-threatening complications such as fits, broken ribs, brain and lung damage, pneumonia and even death can occur in very severe cases. He also explained that because my son had not been vaccinated against Pertussis, it was easier for him to contract it. I was also very surprised that pertussis could affect adults too,” stated Mrs. Sheila.
While in hospital, Mrs. Sheila’s elder son, 11⁄2 year old Naga, and both her husband and mother contracted the cough, though in a milder form. All three of them however are recovering as they were immediately put on the same course of antibiotics as Mrs. Sheila and Krishen.
How life has changed since
After both mother and baby were discharged from hospital, Mrs. Sheila proceeded to find out more about ‘whooping cough’ from various resources and online websites and came across a Positive Parenting article on ‘Pertussis in Adults’ in The Star Online.
“I am very grateful to PP for having published this article as not many Malaysian resources online give such detailed information on whooping cough. Through this article, I also managed to get in contact with the author of the article, Datuk Dr Zulkifli, to get a second opinion and learn more about this disease. Because pertussis is highly contagious, Dr Zulkifli advised us to quarantine ourselves and to observe if this disease progresses. He has been guiding us ever since,” Mrs. Sheila further adds.
Mrs. Sheila describes this contagious illness as a living nightmare and has yet to fully recover from the symptoms of pertussis. Had there been more widespread information on whooping cough, the doctors may have been able to detect the symptoms as pertussis much earlier and given us the right medications and vaccination needed to fight this infection.
“I strongly advise other parents to get the pertussis booster shots for themselves and for their children as soon as possible as it is better to pay a little more now than to bear the consequences later on,” Mrs. Sheila advises. Both her children have now been vaccinated with DTaP vaccine (Diptheria-Tetanus-acellular pertussis), a recommended childhood immunization, and are now in the stages of recovery.
Get your family vaccinated
“There are vaccinations for both children and adults to protect against pertussis. In Malaysia, infants are given the DTaP vaccine at 2, 3, 5 and 18 months of age. Children at age 7 receive Diphtheria and Tetanus (DT) vaccinations (but not the pertussis vaccine). However, because the protective effects of the vaccine wear off after 4 to 12 years, children, adolescents and adults have to be re-vaccinated against the disease. It is advisable that they are vaccinated with the Tdap vaccine, which is used as booster shots to reinforce immunity,” advises Dr. Zulkifli Ismail.
If you are pregnant and want to be vaccinated against whooping cough, it is advisable to wait until the second or third trimester before getting the vaccination. In any event, do consult a doctor or paediatrician for the optimum time to get vaccinated.
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