whooping cough is a bacterial infection that's highly contagious and it's also vaccine preventable. especially in young kids and unvaccinated people it causes a severe cough which is the reason for the name "whooping cough. " vaccinated people can still get whooping cough though it may be less severe and the typical whoop may be absent. whooping cough can be a prolonged illness and it may take many months for the cough to go away completely. for this reason in china it’s known as the “100 day cough. ”
what is whooping cough?