whooping cough

[ hoo-ping, hoop-ing ]

noun

, Pathology.

1. an infectious disease of the respiratory mucous membrane, caused by Bordetella pertussis, characterized by a series of short, convulsive coughs followed by a deep inspiration accompanied by a whooping sound.

whooping cough

/ ˈhuːpɪŋ /

noun

1. an acute infectious disease characterized by coughing spasms that end with a shrill crowing sound on inspiration: caused by infection with the bacillus Bordetella pertussis Technical namepertussis

whooping cough

/ ho̅o̅′pĭng,hp′ĭng,wo̅o̅′pĭng,wp′ĭng /

1. An infectious disease caused by the bacterium Bordatella pertussis, seen most commonly in children and characterized by coughing spasms often ending in loud gasps. Vaccinations usually given during infancy confer immunity to the disease.
2. Also called pertussis

whooping cough

1. An acute and infectious disease occurring mainly in children and characterized by violent coughing. Caused by a kind of bacteria , whooping cough has largely been eradicated in the United States through a program of vaccination , which is begun when infants are just three months old.

Word History and Origins

Origin of whooping cough¹

First recorded in 1730–40

Example Sentences

On the other hand, there are other vaccines that can prevent disease but have a much weaker effect on transmission, like the pertussis, or whooping cough, vaccine.

From Vox

The same is true for the respiratory bacteria that cause pertussis, better known as whooping cough, and pneumonia.

From Washington Post

When you take your child to the pediatrician to get a vaccine for diphtheria, tetanus, and whooping cough, for example, you may not know that there are six different pediatric vaccines licensed for that purpose.

From Popular-Science

Some pathogens can infect and reproduce in vaccinated people for short periods of time without making them sick, including the bacteria that cause meningitis and pertussis, or whooping cough.

From Popular-Science

There are also vaccines against some bacteria, such as the one that causes whooping cough.

From Science News For Students

A whooping cough epidemic did little to turn the tide of the movement from 2011-12, according to a new study.

From The Daily Beast

Pertussis, or “whooping cough,” is caused by the bacterium Bordetella pertussis.

From The Daily Beast

Whooping cough is deadly, on the rise, and preventable with a vaccine.

From The Daily Beast

The original whooping cough vaccines, introduced in the 1940s, were a messy soup, made from dead whole cells of bacteria.

From The Daily Beast

You have a better chance of being killed by malaria or whooping cough.

From The Daily Beast

First love is merely the more picturesque successor of measles and whooping-cough.

From Project Gutenberg

Whooping-cough is very infectious, and, contrary to the popular opinion, it is frequently a fatal disease.

From Project Gutenberg

The objects used by a child that has whooping-cough should be disinfected, and its books and papers are to be burnt.

From Project Gutenberg

Pertussin is a proprietary whooping-cough remedy manufactured by the Kommandantan Apotheke, Berlin.

From Project Gutenberg

One child coming down with scarlet fever, measles, or whooping cough can infect twenty others at an afternoon party.

From Project Gutenberg