Question

An 8-month-old infant has forceful bouts of coughing with an audible whoop. Other clinical presentations include subconjunctival hemorrhage, bulging eyes, and neck vein distention. The child has not been immunized with the diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis vaccine. Which illness is suspected?

Answer 1

Petussis

Step-by-step explanation:

Pertussis, or whoop cough, is an acute infectious contagious disease of the respiratory tract transmitted by the bacterium Bordetella pertussis. Cases of the disease have increased in several countries in recent years. Symptoms last about 6 weeks and may be represented by low fever, runny nose, sneezing, tearing, poor appetite and malaise. As the disease progresses, the patient may experience very strong coughing fits. Suddenly at first, these accessions are brief, but occur one after the other, successively, without the patient being able to breathe between them and are followed by a deep inhalation that produces a sharp sound like an audible whoop.

The child, presented in the question, has symptoms related to pertussis, so we can say that this child is infected with the disease.