The child is being examined by a doctor. Illustrative photo: veselka.clinic
The incidence of whooping cough has increased in Ukraine. In the first two months of 2024, 515 cases of the disease were recorded, while only 27 cases were registered in the same period last year.
About this on Thursday, April 11, reported in the Ministry of Health of Ukraine.
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Screenshot of the message from the Ministry of Health of Ukraine
What is known about the whooping cough outbreak
95.9% of sick people are children, only 4.1% are sick adults. Most of the patients are children of preschool and primary school age. The incidence has increased due to the large number of unvaccinated children.
What is whooping cough?
Whooping cough is an infectious disease, the symptoms of which initially resemble SARS. After 5-8 days, the patient develops a paroxysmal spasmodic cough with a characteristic whistling. Cough attacks most often occur at night. Cough can be accompanied by fever, runny nose and other symptoms of ARVI.
In babies, the disease can occur without coughing, but they may have short-term respiratory arrest, which can be evidenced by a blue face.
After 4-8 weeks, recovery begins. Coughing attacks become weaker and less frequent. Sometimes the recovery period can last from two months to six months.
How dangerous is whooping cough
Whooping cough is highly contagious, transmitted by airborne droplets when coughing or sneezing.
This disease is the most dangerous for babies: in them it can cause apnea — a temporary stoppage of breathing. In addition, the disease can be severe in young children, there is a high risk of complications and death. Older children and adults usually recover, but the disease is debilitating and debilitating.
How to prevent whooping cough
In order not to get whooping cough, you need:
- it is mandatory to vaccinate babies at the age of two, four, six and eighteen months;
- to vaccinate pregnant women in the period from 16 to 32 weeks of pregnancy, regardless of whether they were vaccinated in childhood (this is necessary in order to protect the child from whooping cough in the first months of his life before he receives the vaccine).
It will be recalled that cases of cholera among children were found in occupied Mariupol. Rapid warming could be the cause of the disease outbreak.
Earlier it became known which ones Infectious diseases is the basis for declaring a man unfit for military service.
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