▲ Experts call on adults to also pay attention to the threat of whooping cough and get vaccinated regularly. (Picture/Data Photo)
【Project Special】
Pertussis is like a rumored disease to many people who may have just heard regarding it or been vaccinated hours later, but in fact there are cases of pertussis in adults every year. Since pertussis is not as infectious as the new crown pneumonia, once a cluster occurs, if the resistance of young children and the elderly at home is insufficient, it is easy to cause severe pneumonia and irreversible regrets. Experts call on adults to also pay attention to the threat of whooping cough and get vaccinated regularly.
Whooping cough is more infectious to non-children than new coronary pneumonia
Physician Zhang Yihao, director of Zhang Yihao Otolaryngology Clinic, said that whooping cough is infected in the same way as new coronary pneumonia, and both are transmitted through droplets and contact. At present, we know regarding the Omicron variant of the new coronary pneumonia. One patient can infect 7 to 10 people, but the infectivity of whooping cough can reach 17 people. People should not take it lightly!
Dr. Zhang Yihao emphasized that pertussis occurs in children, and the symptoms are severe, and parents are more alert. In contrast to adults, the initial symptoms are not specific, and most of them present with symptoms such as runny nose, itchy nose, and sore throat. People are easily confused with a cold. This is the time when the contagion is strongest! In the paroxysmal cough phase, symptoms change to paroxysmal cough or inhalation wheezing, and the patient will continue to cough for 1 to 2 months.
▲ Physician Zhang Yihao, director of Zhang Yihao Otolaryngology Clinic, said that whooping cough and new coronary pneumonia are infected in the same way, both are transmitted through droplets and contact, and the infectious power is extremely strong. (Photo/Provided by Dr. Zhang Yihao)
Adult infection not only affects the quality of life, high-risk groups may be complicated by severe pneumonia
A long-term cough will not only make you feel uncomfortable, but also affect the quality of life of yourself and your family. For example, some patients are unable to sleep normally due to coughing, which leads to unsustainable work spirits the next day, and if you continue to cough during the epidemic, you are likely to suffer from strange eyes from others in public. .
However, prolonged coughing may also damage the respiratory mucosa, increasing the risk of bacterial invasion of the lungs, leading to pneumonia and other complications. Dr. Zhang Yihao pointed out that, like the new coronary pneumonia, patients with chronic diseases and the elderly are also a high-risk group for whooping cough complicated by severe disease, such as patients with diabetes, asthma/chronic pulmonary obstruction, cardiovascular disease, chronic liver disease or kidney dialysis, due to their weak resistance. Infection with whooping cough is easy to develop from mild to severe, causing bacterial or viral pneumonia, which becomes difficult and difficult to treat.
Pertussis vaccine protection will decline year by year, and it should be re-vaccinated every 10 years
Although newborns are vaccinated once morest whooping cough, the protection won’t stay with you for life. Dr. Zhang Yihao explained that following the outbreak of the new coronary pneumonia, many people know that the protection of vaccines will decline over time, and so does the pertussis vaccine. After the infants and young children are vaccinated, the antibody will drop below 50% in regarding 6 to 7 years, and the remaining antibodies will be very low following more than 10 years. Therefore, to prevent whooping cough, it is best to vaccinate every 10 years.
Dr. Zhang Yihao urged people over the age of 19 to take a supplementary dose of whooping cough vaccine every 10 years to allow the body to produce antibodies, especially when there are high-risk elderly or infants at home, protecting yourself is equivalent to protecting your family. Kindergarten teachers and long-term care center workers should also be vaccinated once morest whooping cough regularly to avoid spreading the disease to their care recipients. In fact, if everyone vaccinates regularly, they can have group protection and greatly reduce the threat of whooping cough.