Definition of "whooping cough" []

• A highly contagious disease of the respiratory system, usually affecting children, that is caused by the bacterium Bordetella pertussis and is characterized in its advanced stage by spasms of coughing interspersed with deep, noisy inspirations. Also called pertussis. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "In 1939, when I arrived in that hospital with double pneumonia and whooping cough, fully half of all deaths of kids up to age ten were from pneumonia, influenza, and diarrhea/enteritis, while TB, diphtheria, dysentery, and whooping cough contributed an additional 13 percent of deaths to children under ten."
• "In 2009, there were more than 13,000 cases of pertussis more commonly known as whooping cough in Australia, which is the highest number ever recorded."
• "In October, the California Department of Public Health announced that a statewide whooping cough epidemic had already caused more than 5,500 infections, which put the state on pace to record the highest number of cases since 1950, when the pertussis vaccine was just entering widespread use."