Summary: Whooping cough is an infectious disease caused by the Gram-negative bacillus Bordetella pertussis. Whooping cough remains one of the least controlled infectious diseases that can be prevented by vaccination. The World Health Organization esti-mates that there are 13‒15 million cases of pertussis in the world annually, which lead to 200,000‒300,000 deaths.
The epidemiological situation of whooping cough in Poland has changed significantly in recent years. We observe a shift in the incidence of the disease from the youngest population to older age groups. Teenagers and adults are becoming ill with whooping cough increasingly often. The importance of adults as a source of B. pertussis infection for the youngest children (unvaccinated or not fully vaccinated) is emphasized ‒ in their case, whooping cough, and above all its complications, can have serious health consequences and even be life-threatening.
Whooping cough in adults is often detected too late. This is because of very nonspecific symptoms that resemble a cold or the flu. A patient should be suspected of whooping cough when the cough persists for more than seven days and is paroxysmal.
Whooping cough is still a public health threat. In 2017, a to-tal number of 3,061 cases of whooping cough was reported in Poland, of which 1,446 (47.3%) concerned people aged 15 and over. This situation is a result of several factors, including: the disappearance of vaccine immunity over time after vaccination, the constant presence of a pathogenic microorganism in the population, high infectivity, transmission of the infec-tion to the youngest from incompletely vaccinated caregivers and people from the immediate environment, and refusal to vaccinate.
Vaccination against pertussis according to the current vac-cination schedule (mandatory and recommended) still remains the only effective strategy to reduce the number of cases in the population, and the current epidemiological situation indicates the need for booster vaccinations in adults.