Pertussis/whooping cough... Stuck at home!

amother

Sun, Feb 23 2020, 2:48 pm

My almost 3 month old baby has Pertussis/Whooping cough disease... The doctor told us that it is very contagious and takes about 2-3 months to get better. (He had it for over 2 weeks already...)
I feel that I am locked up in my house because my baby can't be around other people.
It is not such great timing because Purim and Pesach is coming and we want to spend time with family but we also don't want to spread germs...
Anyone had the same situation? Any ideas?

amother

Mauve

Sun, Feb 23 2020, 2:53 pm

My 6 yo had it this year.

Not the same as a baby but we were also in house arrest at a very difficult time.

I’d try to go out when dh comes home.

amother

Mauve

Sun, Feb 23 2020, 2:55 pm

And btw, if you’re not already, I believe your entire family needs to go on antibiotics. I don’t remember exactly what, but we all had to take something.

amother

Sun, Feb 23 2020, 3:01 pm

Does it really last 2-3 months?
I don't know what to do about Purim... Our family is me, husband and baby!
The whole Purim and Pesach at home just us 3 (if that awful cough really lasts that long) is just too difficult to imagine.

amother

Sun, Feb 23 2020, 3:05 pm

What do you do about work? I can't go to work because no babysitter will take a contagious and coughing baby...
When dh comes home that my time to spend with him because he's out working the whole day.

amother

Mauve

Sun, Feb 23 2020, 3:05 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

No it’s not contagious so long!! (Definitely not if he’s on antibiotics.)

My son was vaccinated so the actual bad cough lasted less than a week (and he wasn’t a baby). There was a lingering cough that lasted about three months but not contagious and not interfering with daily life.

amother

Mauve

Sun, Feb 23 2020, 3:07 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

What do you do about work? I can't go to work because no babysitter will take a contagious and coughing baby...

I work from home...

Hashem_Yaazor

Sun, Feb 23 2020, 3:09 pm

Not contagious just because the cough lingers.... Your don't want him to get another respiratory infection which can make the cough worse but your shouldn't feel like you're under house arrest if the bacteria had been eradicated from his body...

amother

Lilac

Sun, Feb 23 2020, 3:13 pm

From https://www.health.ny.gov/publications/2171/

How long is a person with whooping cough contagious?

A person with whooping cough can pass it to others as soon as they get cold-like symptoms. They can also pass it up to 3 weeks after they start coughing. If the infected person takes an appropriate antibiotic, they will not spread the germ after 5 full days of treatment.

amother

Sun, Feb 23 2020, 3:13 pm

amother [ Mauve ] wrote:

My baby is too young to be vaccinated and even if he was it's not effective at his age. It started off not so bad, a small cough and not so consistant. He was on antibiotics for 5 days and kept getting worse and worse... We went back to doctor and said that's typical because was not vaccinated... His body needs to build it's own means of fighting it off instead of "help" from vaccine.

amother

Lilac

Sun, Feb 23 2020, 3:22 pm

One of my baby siblings got pertussis, also when too young for the vaccine. We were definitely not stuck at home, though; although we all were supposed to take antibiotics (I didn't, though my mother probably doesn't know that until this day - there were huge pills or a gross liquid so I just took the pill and threw it in the garbage.)

Unfortunately, it takes a few rounds of the vaccine to build immunity, and by then pertussis isn't really so dangerous anymore.

ETA: If you want to do something about it, look into megadoses of vitamin C. It can calm the cough significantly.

Hashem_Yaazor

Sun, Feb 23 2020, 3:25 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

So he's not contagious. It's the toxins that make the cilia destroyed and the cough so bad... But the bacteria should be gone from the abx. You don't have to worry about others catching it from him.

amother

Mauve

Sun, Feb 23 2020, 4:17 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

If he took antibiotics, I’d assume he’s not contagious anymore. You can ask your doctor to be sure.

And you can always go back to check for secondary infections if you feel it’s getting worse.

amother

Denim

Sun, Feb 23 2020, 5:17 pm

My 1 3 5 year olds recently had it. It was a disaster. Let me clear up a few things for you.

1. It is a serious disease and you have a good chance of your baby ending up in the hospital at 3 months of age. Either with respiratory distress from the whooping cough or because he is very likely to develop pneumonia or other complications. You should keep him at home and away from other people for his safety.

2. Our experience is that the symptoms and the low immunity lasted a full six months.

3. You are not contagious after 5 days on antibiotics.

4. Any new fevers are an emergency as they mean pneumonia strep or another bacterial infection.

FranticFrummie

Mon, Feb 24 2020, 7:08 am

You think a couple of weeks is hard? Try 5 YEARS.

My DD was allergic to the Pertussis vaccine. Pertussis was absolutely epidemic in Seattle, because the crunchy hippy moms were treating it like it was just a common cold, with no need to vaccinate.

I was told to keep DD out of all group children's activities until she was 5. No preschool, playgroups, gan, Early Start, Torah Tots, or Mommy and Me. Nothing. It was just her and me, and it was all on me to make sure that she was ready for kindergarten so we home schooled.

A friend of mine had just given birth to twins. Her vaccinated husband came home from work one day with a slight cough. The twins caught it, it turned out to be Pertussis, and the babies ended up in the NICU for over 4 months. They had been in there for a month after birth, and had JUST come home, only to be taken back to the hospital within a week. My friend was just devastated.

GET VACCINATED!!!!!!

amother

Brown

Mon, Feb 24 2020, 7:45 am

After 5 days of antibiotic treatment (zithromax), your child is no longer contagious, even though the cough may linger for weeks. The appropriate treatment is that the entire household should take zithromax for 5 days.

The Dtap vaccine is given at 2 months of age, so baby could have gotten that vaccine then. Not sure how old your baby was when he started with it.

ectomorph

Mon, Feb 24 2020, 7:56 am

The vaccine is 70-80% effective. Www.Whoopingcough.net is a good place to check. Many people think it is just a persistent cough when they get it.

And the vaccine wears off after 7 years.