Features of the course of whooping cough in children of the first three years of life

Abstract

Рertussis is one of the common diseases in young children around the world. In 2023, the incidence of pertussis was recorded in all constituent entities of the Russian Federation, the incidence rate of pertussis in children in the first year of life increased by 13.8 times compared to last year, and the incidence rate in children aged 1 to 2 years was 159.7 per 100 thousand population of this age. Objective: assessment of the course of whooping cough in children of the first three years of life. Materials and methods: a retrospective analysis of 199 medical records of children hospitalized in St. Petersburg State Budgetary Institution Children's City Clinical Hospital No. 5 named after. N. F. Filatova in the period from 2019—2024. Results: Most often, children in the first 6 months of life require hospitalization. Immunization against pertussis was absent in almost all cases. As a rule, the source of infection was the older children in the family and parents. The preconvulsant period was often 4—6 days. The majority of children (89%) were admitted to the hospital at the end of the first — beginning of the second week of the convulsive period. In 81% of cases, the disease was of moderate severity, and severe — 19%. Respiratory rhythm disturbances were observed in 29% of patients. Pertussis was more often complicated by obstructive bronchitis; pneumonia was recorded in 9% of cases, acute bronchiolitis (2.5%) mainly in children in the first 6 months of life. The disease occurred against the background of perinatal damage to the central nervous systemin 13% of cases, atopic dermatitis in 10%, urinary tract infectionin 3.5%, and in 4 patients against the background of acquired CMV infection. Among the concomitant pathologies, ARVI was more often detected. The diagnosis was confirmed by PCR. Conclusion: the persistence of high morbidity rates in the child population and the severity of the disease in young children necessitates the need to achieve a high percentage of coverage of the child population with specific prevention.

Keywords

• whooping cough
• children of the first three years of life
• clinical picture
• laboratory diagnostics
• treatment