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Whooping cough is the nickname for pertussis, a聽childhood disease that is now affecting teens and聽adults and becoming less true to its onomatopoeic聽moniker.

People with pertussis聽make a聽whooping sound because they run out of breath after coughing hard several times in row; the whoop is the sound of a sudden, hard inhale.

You鈥檒l find a good audio recording of child with whooping cough on this . It really聽drives home just聽how bad the cough of whooping cough聽can be. And the 鈥渨hoop!鈥� is upsetting to listen to:聽the poor child in the recording seems to be聽really gasping for air.

Whooping cough is聽caused by bacteria. An effective vaccine has been available for 70 years, and聽because of its聽widespread use among children,聽there are now far fewer聽cases and聽deaths from the disease.

In fact, in聽the mid-1970s in the United States, whooping cough聽seemed to be disappearing聽with only about聽聽1,000聽cases reported in 1976 (although聽there鈥檚聽bound to be unreported cases that don鈥檛 show up in any official count).

But since then, pertussis聽has made a comeback聽 for reasons that aren鈥檛 entirely clear (some think the vaccine was weakened to reduce side effects).

滨苍听2005,听迟丑别 In聽 2007 (latest year聽available), the number of reported cases was down to about 10,000, suggesting that there might be up-and-down cycle in the trend line.

Pertussis is also changing in other ways.

in the August 25, 2010, issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) pointed out whooping cough was almost exclusively a childhood disease聽before vaccination became common. Now about half of all the cases that occur in this country are among teens and adults.

What鈥檚 more, whooping cough in teens and聽adults聽frequently doesn鈥檛聽produce聽the classical symptoms, which, in addition to the聽namesake聽whoop, includes聽 鈥減osttussive emesis鈥濃�攙omiting after coughing. Instead, the main feature聽of whooping cough for聽teens and adults聽may be聽bad, lingering cough.

And, of course, any number of things can cause a bad, lingering cough.

So where does this leave us? Three聽points come to mind:

First,聽if you have a bad cough that you can鈥檛 shake, it鈥檚 possible that you have pertussis. By some estimates, 10% to聽30% of prolonged coughs in adults are caused by pertussis. Mind you, there seem to be聽swings in the number of new cases聽each year, so those estimates might be high in a low incidence year.

Second, you and your doctor can鈥檛 go by the whooping and other supposedly typical聽 symptoms.聽One of the take-home messages of the JAMA article is that聽鈥溾��additional testing 聽and treatment decisions in a patient with prolonged cough should be based on the overall clinical impression, independent of these classical clinical features of pertussis.鈥澛燗dditional tests include culturing the Bordetella pertussis bacteria from nose and throat secretions. And treatment consists of a course of antibiotics.

And third,聽the pertussis vaccination isn鈥檛聽just a childhood vaccination.聽Teens and adults need to get the vaccine, too.聽 It鈥檚 given in combination with the vaccines for tetanus and diphtheria.聽Here is what the CDC has to say on the subject:

Vaccine protection for pertussis, tetanus, and diphtheria can fade with time. Before 2005, the only booster vaccine available contained tetanus and diphtheria (called Td), and was recommended for adolescents and adults every 10 years. Today there are boosters for adolescents and adults that contain tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis (called Tdap). Pre-teens going to the doctor for their regular check-up at age 11 or 12 years should get a dose of Tdap. Adults who didn鈥檛 get Tdap as a pre-teen or teen should get one dose of Tdap instead of the Td booster. Most pregnant women who were not previously vaccinated with Tdap should get one dose of Tdap postpartum before leaving the hospital or birthing center. Getting vaccinated with Tdap is especially important for families with and caregivers of new infants.

The easiest thing for adults to do is to get Tdap instead of their next regular tetanus booster鈥攖hat Td shot that they were supposed to get every 10 years. The dose of Tdap can be given earlier than the 10-year mark, so it鈥檚 a good idea for adults to talk to a health care provider about what鈥檚 best for their specific situation.