California is in the midst of a whooping cough outbreak, as the CDC reports a nationwide surge.
It’s raising concerns for those most vulnerable to the bacterial disease. It spreads through air droplets that can live on clothes and surfaces for up to five days. The symptoms often begin as a common cold and progress into coughing fits that can last for weeks.
The cough’s scariest sound is that of young lungs gasping for air, who are most vulnerable to the infection.
Symptoms include a cough that sounds like “whoop,” a runny nose and nasal congestion.
Pertussis is “called whooping cough because as the diaphragm squeezes the lungs to try to get all that stuff out, it forcefully pushes the lungs up,” said pediatric hospitalist Dr. Gabrielle Pina at Loma Linda University Children’s Health.
Even scarier is when you can’t hear infants breathing.
“They develop apnea because the diaphragm literally can’t do that. So they just stop breathing for 20-plus seconds, which is terrifying,” Pina said.