Pertussis
Pertussis, also known as the whooping cough, is a highly contagious disease caused by the bacterium Bordetella pertussis. It derived its name from the "whoop" sound made from the inspiration of air after a cough. A similar, milder disease is caused by B. parapertussis. [1] Although many medical sources describe the whoop as "high-pitched", this is generally the case with infected babies and children only, not adults. [2]
Despite generally high coverage with the DTP and DTaP vaccines, pertussis is one of the leading causes of vaccine-preventable deaths world-wide. Ninety percent of all cases occur in the Third World. Canada is the only rich, industrial nation in which pertussis is still commonplace, [3] though Australia saw a large increase in cases during a 2008/09 outbreak. [4]