More Caution with Coughs

THE week before Christmas two year old Ruby became unwell and by Boxing Day she was hospitalised with pneumonia on both lungs.

Even though Ruby was fully immunised, she had contracted pertussis, commonly known as whooping cough, which can be deadly and local doctors warn the outbreaks continue to occur because of groups of people in the community who are not immunised.

“The problem is there are people who don’t immunise and that’s how it continues in the community so we have a population of people who just don’t do it and that’s what puts everyone else at risk,” said Dr Eddie Rice of Scone Medical Practice.

“Although the vaccine is very good, it’s not 100 percent effective, but the people who are vaccinated will have a much milder form of the disease generally,” he said.

“It can present as a mild cold, but generally what happens is people will get episodes where they have coughing spasms and then when they take a big breath in they make a ‘whooping’ sound and that is where the name whooping cough comes from,” he said.

“If people are developing coughs that don’t go away, or having the ‘whoop’ sound then see a doctor and ask if it might be whooping cough,” Dr Rice said.

Ruby’s Story:

Ruby’s mother Melanie Craft said she is left feeling frustrated by the misdiagnosis of her child and parents who send their children to school when they are unwell.

Thankfully Melanie trusted her instincts that her child was becoming seriously ill and persisted with seeking medical help.

“She goes to day care in Muswellbrook and they called me to say she was running a temperature which went over 38 so they called me to pick her up and then she slept for 15 hours, which indicated to me that she wasn’t very well, she had a really bad cough and she had diarrhoea,” said Ms Craft.

“We went to the doctors the next day and they thought she had croup and prescribed three days worth of steroids, then as we were walking up the main street of Scone, she was walking beside me but then she just collapsed,” she said.

Melanie took Ruby to Muswellbrook Hospital and said they agreed her daughter had croup.

Ruby continued to become more unwell and on Christmas Day not even presents from Santa were enough to perk her up.

“When we were opening presents Ruby just lay on the ground and cried, she didn’t acknowledge that Santa had been she was just too sick, she wouldn’t drink or eat anything,” said Melanie.

“We went to visit relatives on Christmas day and she just lay on the lounge and at 4 o’clock I just said ‘that’s enough we’re going to the hospital’,” she said.

“I went to Maitland hospital and the triage nurse told me that she looked fantastic and there would be nothing wrong with her, that I was overreacting and sent me to see a GP because they were too busy in emergency,” she said.

Melanie said the GP was concerned Ruby may have pneumonia so prescribed anti-biotics, took a nasal swab to test for whooping cough and said she could return home.

On Boxing Day Ruby was no better, so Melanie told her family ‘I am taking her back to Maitland hospital and I am not leaving’.

“I just felt like nobody was listening to me and I wasn’t getting anywhere, but she was really sick,” said Ms Craft.

“A paediatric specialist there did listen to me and sent Ruby for a chest x-ray and discovered she had pneumonia on both lungs,” she said.

“She had become so dehydrated staff were unable to draw blood, or insert an intravenous drip to rehydrate her, so they had to use nasal tubes.

“By Tuesday she had gotten worse and you couldn’t even wake her, but the results came back from the whooping cough swab and they started treatment.

“She was up and down and on Wednesday afternoon we saw a real turning point, she wanted to eat, she wanted to go outside and she managed to keep down some food,” she said.

“They released her and Maitland hospital was great they kept in contact with us to make sure everything was going along alright,” Melanie Craft said.

Melanie said she wished people would be immunised against whooping cough and were more vigilant about staying home when they are unwell.

“She started out wheezy and it was exactly like croup, so when the doctor told me it was croup I thought ‘you know what you are probably right’, but within six hours things changed dramatically,” said Melanie.

More Advice on Pertussis

• It is recommended women the vaccine in their third trimester of pregnancy and also that dad gets immunised then too.
• Parents, grandparents, anyone who is minding children should also be immunised.
• Antibodies can last up to ten years, but tend to drop within two years
• The vaccine is not 100 percent effective, but for it is 92% effective with severe disease and for people with mild disease it is 71% effective.
• If people are developing coughs that don’t go away, or having the ‘whoop’ sound then see a doctor and ask if it might be whooping cough.
• The Public Health Unit follow up cases of pertussis and trace people who may have had significant contact with the disease and notify them.
• If you have been in contact with someone with whooping cough and you do develop a runny nose, cough or cold within 20 days, you should go to a doctor to be tested.
• Drink plenty of fluids, water is best, but for children half strength juice can also help and hydralyte is also recommended.
• If a child is not taking fluids in, or less than half of the normal amount or their nappies aren’t as wet they should taken to a doctor.