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Immunization surveillance, assessment and monitoring

  WHO > Programmes and projects > Immunization surveillance, assessment and monitoring > Vaccine-preventable diseases
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Pertussis

Description: Pertussis, or whooping cough, is a disease of the respiratory tract caused by bacteria that live in the mouth, nose, and throat. Many children who contract pertussis have coughing spells that last four to eight weeks. The disease is most dangerous in infants. Pertussis spreads very easily from child to child in droplets produced by coughing or sneezing

Prevention: Inactivated whole cell wP or acellular aP - at least 3 primary doses, given by the intramuscular route, combined with diphtheria and tetanus toxoid

:: Recommended surveillance standard

:: More information on pertussis



Statistics on Pertussis

- full size graph [gif 19kb]
- full size map [jpg 58kb]
- data on pertussis