Abstract

DOTRES MARTINEZ, Carlos et al. Pertussis-like syndrome and whooping cough. Rev Cubana Med Gen Integr [online]. 2012, vol.28, n.4, pp. 725-734. ISSN 0864-2125.

Pertussis-like syndrome, a clinical picture similar to whooping cough, is one of the most common lower respiratory syndromes in the pediatric practice in recent years. Whooping cough continues to be one of the oldest preventable diseases in infants, which still causes significant outbreaks mainly in children, but also in adolescents and adults. The objective of this review was to provide general physicians and pediatricians at the primary and the secondary health care levels with information about this present re-emerging epidemiological problem. The management of this disease is difficult for both the developed and the developing countries. One of the major obstacles that lead to delayed epidemiological intervention and treatment of whooping cough in several countries has been the poor clinical suspicion of the presence of the disease on the part of health workers and physicians, and the lack of knowledge within the family setting. It is required to know and to accept the re-emergence of whooping cough at present, in order to make a timely diagnosis and to apply a line of treatment.

Keywords : pertussis-like syndrome; whooping cough; Bordetella pertussis.

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