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Whooping cough

(Science: paediatrics) A bacterial infection that has become quite rare due to effective and widespread vaccination programs (dpt vaccine). Only about 4, 500 cases are reported annually in the U.S. Can present as a mild or severe illness.

symptoms include runny nose, low-grade fever, conjunctivitis and a characteristic cough. Coughing spells end in a whoop caused by the forceful inspiration of air.

An infectious disease especially of children caused by a bacterium of the genus Bordetella (Bordetella pertussis) and marked by a convulsive spasmodic cough sometimes followed by a crowing intake of breath -- called also pertussis.