DEAR DR. GOTT: I’m scared! We just had one confirmed case of whooping cough in our middle school. If the disorder is as contagious as I have been led to believe, has this person possibly contaminated everyone in the classroom, in the school, on the playground, on the school bus and everywhere else? What about us at home and what happens next? How can I protect the rest of my family? What if I wasn’t immunized as an infant? Could I get it, too?

DEAR READER: Pertussis (whooping cough) is caused by a bacterium known as Bordetella pertussis. It is highly contagious and spread by an individual coughing or sneezing infectious droplets through the air. In the past, those most commonly affected are infants and young children; however with a vaccine available to most children before they ever enter school, the higher percentage of cases are now found among adolescents and adults. [Read more...]

DEAR DR. GOTT: I had a bad case of whooping cough as a child. I am now 68 years old. Is it possible to get whooping cough more than once? I have been reading of quite a few cases of it here in Montana and that has me wondering. Also, if my husband has never had whooping cough, should he have the preventive shots for it?

DEAR READER: Whooping cough (pertussis) is a highly contagious bacterial respiratory infection. During the first half of the 20th century, before the vaccine was created, pertussis was the leading cause of childhood illness and death in the US. After the vaccine became part of the normal childhood vaccinations, incidence of the disease gradually declined and hit an all-time low in the mid-1970s. [Read more...]