Claire Sullivan, Rachael Lockhart, Kennedy Gosnell, Jaden Aland
What is Whooping Cough and How does it Spread? Whooping cough, otherwise known as chin-cough or Kink cough, is a contagious bacterial infection, with the majority of the cases occurring in children. The mortality of whooping cough was not very high, however the contagious nature of the disease made it dangerous. The major methods of treatment in the 19th and 20th century involved quarantine and herbal medicines from domestic recipe books along with “pulmonic syrups” available on the market. Treatment and quarantine of whooping cough became more prominent as several organizations throughout the boroughs of London came together to bring awareness and precautions to the public. In the early 20th century, vaccination against the disease became the primary initiative and multiple vaccines were developed throughout the century. From its discovery and association with an imbalance in humors, to the discovery of a causative organism, to the development of a vaccine, whooping cough proved to be a sweeping epidemic that could infect masses of people if the proper precautions were not taken.
Topics:
What is Whooping Cough and How does it Spread?
