Whooping Cough in the 1940s

A Study of Whooping Cough Through the 1940s

The 1940s was the beginning of the end for pertussis. Both preventions and many new treatments were discovered that both eased the symptoms of the disease and sped up recovery time. In the beginning of the century a vaccine became available to prevent the disease. The 1940s saw pertussis lose its death grip on the young American children, a fact evidenced by the dearth of reports on the disease after 1949. In present-day America there are less than 4,000 reported cases of whooping cough each year and even fewer deaths, thanks to immunization. Before the vaccine was discovered, however, at least 200,000 cases of pertussis were reported every year, many of which resulted in death.
Pertussis is the disease more commonly known as Whooping cough. It is caused by the bacterium Bordetella pertussis. In the twentieth century, whooping cough was a common childhood disease and one of the leading causes of childhood mortality. The symptoms of pertus...