whooping-cough

(hoop’ing-kawf). Pertu is; an infectious disease characterized by catarrh of the Tespiratory tract and peculiar paroxysms of cough, ending in a prolonged crowing or whooping respiration. After an incubation period of about two weeks the catarrhal stage begins, with slight fever, sneezing, running at the nose, and a dry cough. In a week or two the paroxysmal stage begins, with the characteristic paroxysmal cough. This consists of a deep inspiration, followed by a series of quick, short coughs, continuing until the air is expelled from the lungs. During the paroxysm the face becomes cyanosed, the eyes injected, and the veins distended. The cough frequently induces vomiting, and, in severe cases, epistaxis or other hemorrhage. The close of the paroxysm is marked by a long-drawn, shrill, whooping inspiration, due to spasmodic closure of the glottis. The number of paroxysms varies from ten or twelve to forty or fifty in twenty-four hours. This stage lasts from three to four weeks, and is followed by the stage of decline, during which the paroxysms grow le frequent and le violent, and finally cease. The disease is most frequently met in children, is much more prevalent in cold weather, and is very contagious, the virus being apparently a ociated with the sputum. The disease is apt to be complicated with catarrhal pneumonia, pulmonary collapse, emphysema, convulsions, and hemorrhages into the eye, ear, or brain, and severe cases are sometimes followed by chronic bronchitis, tuberculosis, or nephritis.