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Intended for Healthcare Professionals
British Journal of General Practice

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Original Papers

A search for subclinical infection during a small outbreak of whooping cough: implications for clinical diagnosis

Douglas Jenkinson and Jacqueline D. Pepper
The Journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners 1986; 36 (293): 547-548.
Douglas Jenkinson
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Jacqueline D. Pepper
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Abstract

The transmission of whooping cough in a general practice community was followed after the identification of the first case for nearly three years. Intensive case-finding was undertaken to detect contacts of known cases of whooping cough and to take pernasal swabs from those with any cough; 102 swabs were taken. In three months 39 cases of whooping cough were clinically diagnosed, 17 (44%) of which were confirmed bacteriologically. All had a prolonged paroxysmal cough, one-third reported a catarrhal phase, 18 (46%) vomited with paroxysms and nine (23%) whooped. No isolations of Bordetella pertussis were obtained from the 84 contacts with non-paroxysmal coughs. There was no evidence that subclinical bordetella infection (showing none of the signs of whooping cough) is a common occurrence.

It is probable that many recognizable cases of whooping cough are missed because it can be a milder illness than is often realized and commonly exhibits neither whooping, vomiting nor a catarrhal phase. Paroxysms may be infrequent. The diagnosis of whooping cough should be suspected from a prolonged paroxysmal cough alone.

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The Journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners: 36 (293)
The Journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners
Vol. 36, Issue 293
December 1986
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A search for subclinical infection during a small outbreak of whooping cough: implications for clinical diagnosis
Douglas Jenkinson, Jacqueline D. Pepper
The Journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners 1986; 36 (293): 547-548.

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A search for subclinical infection during a small outbreak of whooping cough: implications for clinical diagnosis
Douglas Jenkinson, Jacqueline D. Pepper
The Journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners 1986; 36 (293): 547-548.
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Print ISSN: 0960-1643
Online ISSN: 1478-5242