What is whooping cough?
Whooping cough is a bacterial infection of the lungs and airways. It is passed on through close personal contact, sneezing and coughing. It starts with cold-like symptoms, including a cough which progresses to intense bouts of coughing.
These bouts can be followed by vomiting, choking or a sharp intake of breath which causes a distinctive “whooping” sound. Whooping cough can lead to complications such as pneumonia, seizures, coma, brain damage and death. In Australia, about one in every 200 babies who contract whooping cough will die.
How can whooping cough be prevented?
The best way to protect babies from whooping cough is for their mothers to be vaccinated during their third trimester of pregnancy and for babies to receive all their routine immunisations on time. The first dose of vaccine is given at six weeks to two months, with additional doses at four and six months of age, and booster doses at 18 months, four years and 10-15 years. Whooping cough can occur in immunised children but the disease is generally much less severe.
Fathers and anyone else likely to come into contact with newborns, including grandparents, should also get a pertussis booster at least two weeks before the baby is born. Booster injections are needed because immunity fades over time.
*If you suspect that your child may have whooping cough, visit your doctor as soon as possible. Your child can be infectious for up to 21 days after the cough starts. Antibiotics may be given to reduce both symptoms and the time someone is infectious to others.
Our research impact
Best age for immunisation
The additional whooping cough vaccine at 18 months was added to the National Immunisation Program Schedule as a result of work by researchers from the Wesfarmers Centre of Vaccines and Infectious Diseases at the The Kids Research Institute Australia and others. They found that the protection children received from their three baby doses of the whooping cough vaccine started to wear off after a couple of years so they were at increased risk of whooping cough before having their first booster dose at four. A booster for 18-month-olds now provides boosted protection earlier. For more information, view our media release.
Immunising parents
The Kids Research Institute Australia researchers also collaborated on a project which assessed whether vaccinating parents against whooping cough helped to protect their newborn babies. Researchers found that babies born to immunised parents were half as likely to be infected with whooping cough. Whooping cough vaccination is now provided free for all West Australian women during pregnancy.
The maternal vaccine has since been added to the National Immunisation Schedule and will be free for all pregnant women nationally from 1 July 2018.
Effectiveness of vaccine
While current vaccines are very good at protecting the person who receives it, they are not so effective for stopping spread of whooping cough in the community. This means every person would need to be vaccinated regularly to completely get rid of whooping cough. A The Kids Research Institute Australia pilot study will offer some babies an older whole-cell vaccine which might be better for blocking the spread of whooping cough, including to those too young or too sick to be vaccinated.
