How is whooping cough contracted?
The infection is transferred through airborne droplets when an infected person coughs. Anyone who has not been vaccinated is highly likely to contract the disease just by spending time in the same room as an infected person.
Anyone who has been vaccinated or has suffered from whooping cough will have a degree of immunity to the disease. They may contract a mild case some years later but this will not develop into a full-blown attack.
The incubation period - the time between contracting the infection and the appearance of the main symptoms - can vary from 5 to 15 days or even longer.
Whooping cough is infectious from the first sneezes and throughout the course of the disease, which can last for up to eight weeks. This is a much longer period than with other children's diseases.