Notes

Hamad (M) – 5 years old
For 2 days: Cough & mild sore throat with a runny nose.
After one week: Herbal remedy didn’t make him improve & so was given additional herbs.
Few days later: His condition worsened & he wakes up coughing at night. He appears to have breathing troubles because of prolonged coughing spells & made a strange noise when breathing.
At Health Care Centre:
History showed that Hamad & his sister have not been immunized.
Based on clinical presentation, the doctor diagnosis was whooping cough & prescribed the antibiotic erythromycin.
Results of lab. investigations are:
Nasopharyngeal Swab: Growth of Bordetella Pertussis
Total WBC count: 40,000/μl (normal: 5,000-10,000/ μl) / Differential WBC count:
Neutrophils 26% - Monocytes 4% - Lymphocytes 68% - Eosinophils 1% - Basophils 1%
Hamad didn’t improve with the antibiotic treatment & continued to have paroxysms of coughing.
On 2 occasions, coughing was so severe that he goes blue & loses consciousness for a min. or so.
By this time, Ali was feeling unwell & developed sever cough. Few days later the doctor confirmed that he also has
pertussis after receiving the lab. investigation results.
8 weeks later (Review at the Clinic):
Both Ali & Hamad had a slow recovery, but with many weeks of distressingly severe coughs