Essay on Microbiology: Vaccine and City Brights

Submitted By marleeragan
Words: 611
Pages: 3

Whooping Cough is also known as Pertussis. Pertussis is a bacterial infection that invades the lining of the respiratory tract and can block the airways of an individual with whooping cough. Whooping cough is caused by an organism named, Bortella Pertussis. This causative agent is easily spread and highly contagious. For example, if a child that has siblings were to be infected and contract the whooping cough the other children in the house hold are more likely going to become infected as well, even if they were vaccinated.
The cause of Pertussis is by a specific bacteria, Bortella Pertussis, and is spread through someone sneezing or coughing, and then another individual inhales the particles through their airways (breathing).
As mentioned before, this disease is highly contagious and can be very serious if not treated or controlled. The initial symptoms include: runny nose, congestion, sneezing, mild fever, mild cough, and watery and red eyes. After the first stage of symptoms a secondary stage also have symptoms that include: severe cough, long coughs that result in a forceful inhale (known as the “whoop”), trouble breathing, and coughing that usually leads to vomiting. The final stage of symptoms is pneumonia, seizures, periods of no breathing, abdominal hernias, and sometimes can even damage the brain or even lead to death.
Today we have a vaccination for preventing an individual from contracting Pertussis that was founded by Margaret Pittman in the 1950’s. The one vaccination is known as the DTaP series. The vaccination protects against diphtheria, tetanus, and Pertussis. Another vaccination is the Tdap, which is a routinely vaccine that is given to children at the age 11 or older after they have completed the DTaP series of shots at a younger age. Also pregnant mothers are given the Tdap vaccine to protect the newborn from becoming infected with Pertussis. There are also preventative antibiotics that are given to family members in the household where there is an infected family member. The antibiotic helps prevent someone with a weak immune system to help them fight infection if necessary. A last but not least the most common way to prevent someone from catching the disease is by avoiding an infected person. If you are infected a way to prevent other people from getting the disease is by covering your mouth when you cough and sneeze and also staying away from others to