Whooping cough can be treated successfully with antibiotics and most people make a full recovery.
Antibiotics
If whooping cough is diagnosed during the first few weeks of the infection, your GP may prescribe a course of antibiotics to prevent the infection spreading further.
Antibiotics will stop you being infectious after five days of taking them. However, without antibiotics, you may still be infectious until three weeks after your intense bouts of coughing (paroxysms) start.
If whooping cough is not diagnosed until the later stages of the infection, your GP may not prescribe antibiotics. This is because the bacterium that causes whooping cough has already gone by this time, so you are no longer infectious. Antibiotics will make no difference to your symptoms at this stage.
Treating babies and young children
Babies are affected most severely by whooping cough, and they are most at risk of developing complications. For this reason, babies under one year of age who contract whooping cough will often need treatment in hospital (see box).
If your child is admitted to hospital to be treated for whooping cough, it is likely they will be treated in isolation. This means they will be kept away from other patients. This is to prevent the whooping cough infection from spreading.
Your child may need to be given antibiotics intravenously (straight into a vein through a drip).
If your child is severely affected, they may also need corticosteroid medication as well as antibiotics. Corticosteroid medication contains steroids. These are powerful hormones that will reduce inflammation (swelling) in your child's airways, making it easier for them to breathe. Like antibiotics, corticosteroids may be given intravenously.
If your child needs additional help with breathing, they may be given extra oxygen through a facemask. A handheld device called a bulb syringe may also be used to gently suction away any mucus that is blocking their airways.
Other measures
Whooping cough is much less serious in older children and adults than it is in babies and young children. Your GP will usually advise you to manage the infection at home and follow some simple advice:
- Get plenty of rest.
- Drink lots of fluids to prevent dehydration.
- Clear away any excess mucus or vomit during bouts of coughing so it cannot be inhaled and cause choking.
- Stay away from other people until you have completed your course of antibiotics or (if you are not prescribed antibiotics) until you have had intense bouts of coughing (paroxysms) for three weeks.
Even though you or your child may still have bouts of coughing after three weeks, it is unlikely that you will still be infectious.
