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Symptoms
By Mayo Clinic staff
Early signs and symptoms
Once you become infected with the bacterium that causes whooping cough, it takes about three to 12 days for signs and symptoms to appear. They're usually mild at first and resemble those of a common cold, such as:
- A runny nose
- Nasal congestion
- Sneezing
- Red, watery eyes
- A mild fever
- Dry cough
- General feeling of being unwell and loss of appetite
Later stage signs and symptoms
After a week or two, signs and symptoms become worse and usually include:
- Severe coughing attacks that bring up thick phlegm
- Coughing attacks — up to 15 coughs in a row — that end with a high-pitched "whoop" sound during the next breath of air
- In children, severe coughing that leads to vomiting or causes a red or blue face from the effort
- Fatigue from the exertion of coughing
Coughing characteristics
In adults, signs and symptoms of whooping cough may resemble those of bronchitis, a respiratory infection that causes a nagging cough. Babies and infants with whooping cough may not whoop at all, or at least not as loudly as older children do. Some children with whooping cough may experience choking spells and turn blue in the face as they struggle to breathe after extended coughing.
Severe coughing can result in tiny red spots caused by ruptures in blood vessels at the skin's surface (petechiae) in the upper body, as well as small areas of bleeding in the whites of the eyes. You may even bruise or break a rib if your coughing episodes are severe. Coughing may be worse at night.
