About our e-newsletters
- Free e-newsletters
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- We do not share your e-mail address
Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
Housecall Archives
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
Complications
By Mayo Clinic staffMost people recover from whooping cough with no problems. When complications occur, they tend to be side effects of the strenuous coughing, such as:
- Bruised or cracked ribs
- Abdominal hernias
- Broken blood vessels in the skin or the whites of your eyes
Infants
In infants — especially those under 6 months of age — complications from whooping cough are more severe and may include:
- Ear infections
- Pneumonia
- Slowed or stopped breathing
- Dehydration
- Seizures
- Brain damage
Because infants and toddlers are at greatest risk of complications from whooping cough, they're more likely to need treatment in a hospital. Complications can be life-threatening for infants less than 6 months old.
- Pertussis (whooping cough): What you need to know. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. http://www.cdc.gov/Features/Pertussis/. Accessed Oct. 9, 2009.
- Hewlett EL. Whooping cough and other Bordetella infections. In: Goldman L, et al. Cecil Medicine. 23rd ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Saunders Elsevier; 2007. http://www.mdconsult.com/das/book/body/164191733-4/899761629/1492/1170.html#4-u1.0-B978-1-4160-2805-5..50339-6_14460. Accessed Oct. 9, 2009.
- Long SS. Pertussis. In: Kliegman RM, et al. Nelson Textbook of Pediatrics. 18th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Saunders Elsevier; 2007. http://www.mdconsult.com/das/book/body/164191733-4/899761629/1608/548.html#4-u1.0-B978-1-4160-2450-7..50196-1_4360. Accessed Oct. 9, 2009.
- Lipsky M. Pertussis (whooping cough). American Medical Association. http://www.medem.com/?q=medlib/article/ZZZPWVII1AC. Accessed Oct. 9, 2009.
- Yeh S, et al. Clinical features and diagnosis of Bordetella pertussis infection in infants and children. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Oct. 9, 2009.
- Yeh S. Treatment and prevention of Bordetella pertussis infection in infants and children. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Oct. 13, 2009.
Find Mayo Clinic on