Mother's Story
Gail and baby Peter*
Western Australia

Baby Peter was born seven weeks premature. After many weeks in hospital, he was finally able to come home. But after only a few weeks, he was back in hospital, this time with a nasty case of whooping cough. Even more devastating was when his mother Gail learned that she had passed on the whooping cough infection to young Peter.

Gail remembers developing a ticklish cough that over a few weeks became so severe that at night she was left struggling to breathe after a bout of coughing. Before long, baby Peter started coughing too. Gail took him to the doctor who prescribed a course of antibiotics. But within days, his cough had worsened to the point where he had great difficulty breathing and he was turning blue around the mouth.

Gail and her husband immediately rushed baby Peter to hospital. When they arrived, he was quickly examined by doctors and placed on equipment to monitor his breathing and oxygen levels. Both Gail and Peter were diagnosed with whooping cough.

Gail was shocked when she was told that she had whooping cough as she did not have the usual 'whoop' sound during bouts of coughing. She was told that she had picked up the infection from someone outside her home and because she was in such close contact with Peter, she had unknowingly passed it on to him. Peter had already had his first infant immunisation for whooping cough but this was not enough to protect him from catching the disease.

For nine days, Gail remained by Peter's hospital cot side. There were a number of times when his oxygen levels dropped to a dangerously low level. Two months after he was first diagnosed, Peter still has a mild cough. Gail says it was a very stressful and frightening time watching her baby fight to stay alive. She hopes that her story alerts other parents to the dangers of whooping cough and spares other families from having to go through a similar experience.

Gail says that she did not know about adult whooping cough when planning her pregnancy. Gail urges mums to vaccinate their babies according to the recommended childhood schedule, and hopes that anyone who will be around an infant gets the whooping cough booster vaccine for themselves.

* All names of persons referenced have been changed to preserve anonymity.