The Turkish Journal of Pediatrics
2013 , Vol 55 , Num 4
Fulminant Pertussis in Very Young Infants: Two Cases and Review of the Literature
1Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, 2Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, Department of Pediatrics and 3Department of
Clinical Microbiology, Ondokuz Mayıs University Faculty of Medicine, Samsun, Turkey. E-mail: sukrupaksu@yahoo.com
Pertussis is one of the leading causes of death that can be prevented by
vaccination. More than 600,000 deaths from pertussis occur annually, with
a disproportionate number appearing in unvaccinated infants. Pertussis is
particularly troublesome because it does not necessarily present itself in its
commonly known classical stages. Therefore, in very young and non-immunized
children, the disease may have a fulminant process characterized by severe
leukocytosis, neurologic involvement and serious cardiopulmonary failure
that can be accompanied by pulmonary hypertension, persistent hypoxia and
death. This article describes two infants with fulminant pertussis; they were
admitted for acute respiratory failure and severe leukocytosis and ultimately
died from multi-organ failure.
Keywords :
fulminant pertussis, child, severe leukocytosis, cardiopulmonary collapse.