Whooping Cough
By L.L. Williams,
County Health Officer
In North Carolina there are every 12 months about 400 deaths
and 8,000 cases of whooping cough. This disease kills more children in this
state than does measles, scarlet fever and smallpox combined. With one or two
exceptions, whooping cough is the most contagious disease that we have to deal
with.
The general and wrong idea of people is that the younger a
person is the better for them to have whooping cough. As of its danger, Dr.
Osler says, “Whooping cough is a very fatal affliction, ranking one of the
first among the acute infections as a cause of death in children under 5 years
of age. It exceeds diphtheria and scarlet fever in gross mortality.” Statistics
show that over half of all deaths that occur from whooping cough occur in
children under 1 year of age, and that 97 per cent of all deaths from whooping
cough occur in children under 5 years of age. It is rare after the fourth year
of age for a fatal result or a serious complication to occur. Protect the
children. They are helpless without your protection. They can’t understand or
know; you do.
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