Symptoms despite a whooping cough vaccination

With the whooping cough vaccination there are so-called “vaccination failures”. This refers to persons who have been given the vaccine but do not produce sufficient antibodies to ensure immune protection. These people can become infected with the pathogen despite having been vaccinated.

Often, however, the infection is milder than in unvaccinated people, so that the vaccination pays off in any case. Often the symptoms are falsely diagnosed as influenza when the vaccination is administered. In this case, if the symptoms are permanent or similar to a whooping cough infection, vaccination failure should always be considered. If whooping cough is diagnosed, in contrast to flu infection, antibiotics can be successfully treated.

Course of the symptoms with whooping cough

Whooping cough runs in several stages, especially in children. The first stage, which usually lasts one to two weeks, the so-called stage catarrhale, is characterized by simple cold symptoms, which can be accompanied by conjunctivitis. This is followed by the convulsive stage with a duration of two to six weeks.This is where the actual symptoms of whooping cough infection appear.

It is characterized by severe coughing attacks with tongue outstretched, often occurring at night. After the coughing attacks, the lack of oxygen during coughing can lead to a blue coloration of the lips and mouth. After the coughing attack, there is a loud, difficult inhalation, which can also lead to a brief respiratory arrest, especially in infants.

Usually viscous mucus is vomited or choked out. At this stage, babies and infants with whooping cough disease should be admitted to hospital to detect and treat a possible respiratory arrest at an early stage. The decrementi stage, which usually lasts for more than a week, represents the healing phase.

However, the coughing attacks may persist. At any stage, the immune reaction can cause fever attacks. However, fever is typical in the catarrhal stage, whereas it is very rare in the convulsive stage.

The course of the disease lasts several weeks if left untreated. A complication that can occur due to increased coughing is a so-called pneumothorax. In this case, the affected lung is removed from the ribs through tears in the pleura or lung fur, so that the lung is no longer able to expand during inhalation.

It no longer participates in breathing. Symptoms of pneumothorax include sudden onset of back pain, shortness of breath and possibly a blue discoloration of the lips or surrounding skin due to lack of oxygen in the blood. Further general information on this topic can be found under Coughing in childrenSince whooping cough is a severe infection with the bacterium Bordatella Pertussis, a strong immune response and thus possibly also fever is to be expected.

Fever usually occurs in the first stage. In this stage the symptoms typical of pertussis are not yet very pronounced. In the second stage, the stage with the typical symptoms of the pertussis infection, fever attacks occur very rarely.

Exceptions confirm the rule here. In the healing stage, the disease should regress. Renewed fever attacks are not the rule here.

The pertussis infection does not cause a classic skin rash. The reddening of the skin may be due to small bleedings of the finest skin vessels. These skin vessels burst when there is increased pressure in the chest, which is caused by the increased coughing.

These haemorrhages are not threatening and disappear within a few days after the coughing stimulus has subsided. In addition to the skin symptoms, there may be bleeding in the eye. These too are caused by the pressure when coughing due to the bursting of small vessels in the eye and disappear by themselves.

Due to their localization in the eye, these bleedings can look alarming, but are usually neither threatening nor painful and are not noticed by children. The long episodes of coughing attacks cause irritation of the entire respiratory tract. This also includes the throat.

If there is a lot of coughing, the mucous membranes in the throat and pharynx are so strained that a sore throat can occur. When looking at the throat, a redness will be noticeable. This pain can be treated with cold drinks or ice as well as with paracetamol or ibuprofen. In case of severe sore throat or swelling of the airways, a doctor should be consulted immediately.