Whooping cough sound

Whooping cough gets its name from its most famous symptom -- a "whoop" sound you might make when you gasp for air at the end of a coughing fit. But it doesn't happen in all adults, so it's important to learn the range of symptoms you might get -- from a runny nose to a hacking cough that you can't seem to shake. Early Signs At first, whooping cough -- also called pertussis -- might seem like a regular, run-of-the mill cold. You might get symptoms like: • Runny nose • Low-grade fever • Mild cough Those problems often last a week or two, but the similarities with a cold end there. Most common colds wrap up in less than 2 weeks, but whooping cough will start to get worse. As soon as you suspect you might have whooping cough -- or anytime you have cold-like symptoms that don't get better in a few weeks -- see your doctor. To make a diagnosis, your doctor will listen to your cough and ask questions about your symptoms. In some cases -- such as when it's hard to figure out if it's whooping cough, the flu, or bronchitis -- you might need tests. Those often include a nose or throat culture. Your doctor will take a mucus sample and send it to a lab. Technicians will test it to see if it contains the bacteria that causes whooping cough. Your doctor may also suggest blood tests to check your white blood cell count, a general sign of infection. They might ask you to get a chest X-ray to see if you have inflammation or fluid in your lungs that are signs of pneumonia, a complication of ...

By Cheryl Franco, MSNEd, RN Special thanks to As a pediatric nurse at Children's Hospital Los Angeles, I get asked a lot of questions about whooping cough. The most common question is: What does whooping cough sound like? I’ll get to that answer in a minute, along with links to videos so you can hear the sound firsthand. But first, you need to know something very important: • Young babies with whooping cough don’t make the same classic “whoop” coughing sound that toddlers, children and adults make. And these babies are actually the most at risk for life-threatening complications from the illness. First symptoms of whooping cough Whooping cough, also called pertussis, is a bacterial infection in the respiratory tract (your airways). It causes severe coughing—and it’s extremely contagious. For the first few days, whooping cough looks a lot like the common cold: • Runny nose • Mild cough • Sore throat • Mild fever Whooping coughsymptoms: children After one to two weeks, severe, violent coughing episodes begin. The cough is due to lots of thick mucus in the lungs and throat, which can make it hard to breathe. • In toddlers and children, coughing spells often last a minute or longer and can cause: • A loud “whoop” at the end of the cough. This is the sound of the child trying to get air back into his or her lungs. • Vomiting. A child may cough, make the whoop sound and then throw up. • Bleeding. The coughing can cause bleeding in the eyes. • A broken rib. Some children even bre...