The Incomplete Vaccination Schedule and Whooping Cough: Clinical Case

Abstract

Whooping cough, is a highly contagious respiratory illness caused by the bacterium Bordatella pertussis. It can cause serious complications such as heart failure, pulmonary hypertension, encephalopathy, and even death. Its incidence decreased in developed countries after the introduction of vaccines to the health sector during the 1940s and 1950s; however, the increase in children under seven years of age with incomplete vaccination schedules has been a fundamental risk factor worldwide for the resurgence of these practically eradicated diseases, thus becoming a public health problem, derived from the high morbidity and mortality they can generate.