Whooping cough is a highly infectious disease that can be life threatening for babies and young children.
It usually starts with cold-like symptoms and a cough that worsens into uncontrollable coughing.
Vaccination is the best way to prevent whooping cough.
Whooping cough spreads by airborne droplets - when an infectious person coughs or sneezes bacteria into the air which can then be inhaled by other people in close proximity.
Symptoms generally appear 7 to 10 days after infection. Whooping cough usually starts like a cold with a blocked or runny nose, tiredness, mild fever and cough. The cough typically gets worse and severe bouts of uncontrollable coughing can develop.
Coughing bouts can be followed by vomiting, choking or taking a big gasping breath which causes a ‘whooping’ sound. The cough can last for many weeks and can be worse at night.
Young infants with whooping cough may stop breathing or turn blue, have apnoea (pauses in normal breathing), pneumonia, feeding problems and weight loss, seizures, brain damage and, in some cases even die.
Older children and adults can also become infected with whooping cough and, while their symptoms are usually less severe, they can pass the infection to others, including infants too young to be immunised.
The whooping cough vaccine provides good protection from infection.
Immunity does fade over time, which means that booster injections are recommended.
Whooping cough vaccines come as a combination vaccine that also protects against other diseases such as diphtheria and tetanus.
The whooping cough vaccine is free under the National Immunisation Program for:
For detailed information, including timings speak to a health professional.
When Catherine and Greg lost their gorgeous baby boy Riley to whooping cough at just one month old, they had no idea they would be thrust into the media spotlight.
They were in the throes of grief when journalists turned up at their front door wanting to know more about what had happened to little Riley.
“We’d done a Facebook post about Riley at the time, to let people know what was going on,” Catherine said.
“Before I knew it, the post had gone viral and had been shared around 10,000 times.”
Riley was born on 13 February 2015. He was their second baby and little brother to big sister Olivia who was aged 3 at the time.
“He was a happy and healthy baby but when he was 3 weeks old, he slept through the night which was unusual for him,” Catherine said.
“Riley then started to develop cold-like symptoms including a mild cough.
“He became quite lethargic and wasn’t waking for his usual 2-hourly feeds, so we arranged for a Locum to come out to the house.
“We were told Riley had a virus and were given the impression it wasn’t anything too serious.”
However, Riley’s health deteriorated overnight, so Catherine and Greg rushed him to Princess Margaret Hospital (now known as Perth Children’s Hospital).
Riley was admitted to hospital with staff initially thinking he had bronchiolitis, but doctors suspected it could be whooping cough (pertussis) and started treating him accordingly.
“On the fourth day of his admission, Riley developed pneumonia and was taken to the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU),” Catherine said.
Swab test results had also come back confirming Riley had contracted whooping cough.
Riley’s condition worsened and tragically, he passed away in his parent’s arms the following afternoon at just 32 days old.
“Our hearts were shattered, and we were left with funeral preparations, sudden media attention and a 3-year-old who couldn’t quite understand where her much-loved brother had gone,” Catherine said.
“At the time I discovered that many women around the world were having a vaccination in pregnancy to protect their newborn from whooping cough.
“Throughout my pregnancy, the whooping cough vaccine wasn’t mentioned to me as it was not available to pregnant mothers in Western Australia at the time.
“Had I been offered the whooping cough vaccination in pregnancy, there is a good chance Riley would still be with us today.
“Studies have shown that babies born to a mother who received it during pregnancy, were 90% less likely to contract this terrible disease.”
2 days after Riley’s death, the State Government announced the introduction of a program where pregnant women would be able to receive free whooping cough vaccination during their third trimester.
Other states soon followed and now all states and territories in Australia offer free whooping cough vaccination during pregnancy.
“Whooping cough is on the rise throughout the country,” Catherine said.
“Last year we had 2447 notifications in Australia, yet we are not even 6 months into 2024 and we have already exceeded those numbers.
“At least eight babies have died this year in the UK, with most not having received the protection of whooping cough vaccination during pregnancy.
“I am concerned we will see something similar in Australia.
“Whooping cough is not a disease we can afford to forget about.”
