Whooping Cough in Saranac Lake

Two confirmed cases of whooping cough in the Petrova Middle School.

Whooping cough is a disease caused by infection with Bordetella pertussis, a gram-negative coccobacillus. The bacteria is transmitted through the air. The time from infection until signs of the disease appear is about 7-10 days. The incidence in 2002 was 3.01/100,000 when 8,296 cases of pertussis were reported. More info on incidence at wrongdiagnosis.

Whooping cough is a toxin mediated disease. B. pertussis produces pertussis toxin (pertussigen) and adenylate cyclase-hemolysin among other toxic substances.

More lay information about Whooping cough can be found here. At this website you can even hear the typical 'whooping' cough sounds made by an infected child and compare it to a non-whooping cough of a coughing uninfected child.