“Whooping Cough” is a respiratory (airway) illness caused by a bacteria called Bordetella pertussis. It passes from person to person by tiny droplets in the air after coughs and sneezes. A stuffy nose and cough develops six to twenty days after a person first contacts the bacteria. The cough becomes much worse over one to two weeks. A hacking cough is followed at times by a loud gasp called a “whoop.” The cough then slowly disappears over one to two months with long term problems for some. The illness can be shortened and the likelihood of spreading the disease to others can be decreased by taking antibiotics, but the illness is very well prevented with a vaccination - the “p” in the vaccination called DTaP or Tdap. Before vaccines, about 10 to twenty people out of 100,000 died of pertussis per year, but now much fewer than 1 out of 100,000 die of the illness in the U.S.