How Your Lungs Work ？

The main job of your lungs is to bring oxygen into your body and get rid of carbon dioxide in your blood. When you breathe, the lungs and chest wall act as a bellows to bring in fresh air. The upper airway carries air to the lungs. The lower airways branch out like a tree. The branches end in tiny air sacs called alveoli, where oxygen passes into your blood while waste gases such as carbon dioxide are returned from your blood and breathed out.

The lung’s defense mechanisms can become overloaded and worn out by too much exposure to dusts and fumes for too long a time. This can allow lung tissue to be damaged. Healthy lung tissue is elastic; it can expand and contract. Some lung diseases interfere with the lungs’ elastic property and make the lungs “stiff.” Stiff lungs often cause the lung volume to be reduced, which is called lung restriction. Other diseases can cause airways obstruction, a narrowing of the tubes of the lung. Airways  obstruction reduces the rate at which air can pass through the airways. Both lung restriction and airways obstruction can be caused by overexposure to certain chemicals.

Who Should Get Lung Function Tests?

All people who are exposed to dusts, metal fumes, chemical vapors, and gases which affect the lungs should be given regularly scheduled lung function tests. Under the law, people exposed to certain health hazards, such as cotton dust or asbestos, must be given periodic PFTs.

Most lung diseases take many years of exposure to develop. Symptoms of lung disease such as shortness of breath, wheezing, and coughing usually develop gradually. Lung function tests and an awareness of pulmonary symptoms are useful in early detection of lung disease. PFTs can help detect illness at an early stage before symptoms are apparent to the worker.

How is pertussis spread?
Pertussis is very easily spread. The bacteria are present in secretions (fluids) from the respiratory tract (nose and mouth) and can be spread by coughing or sneezing droplets near another person. The first sign of illness can occur 6 to 20 days (usually 7 to 10 days) after being around someone who has it. Pertussis is not known to be spread by contact with contaminated objects.

When and for how long is a person able to spread pertussis?
Pertussis is most contagious in the early stage of the illness before the onset of the explosive coughing spell. The spread of pertussis may be up to three weeks or more after cough onset. The spread period can be reduced to 5 days after the initiation of an appropriate course of antibiotics administered in the early stages of illness.

How can the spread of pertussis be prevented?
Treatment is recommended for well persons who are close contacts (especially household contacts) of the case to prevent or reduce the severity of illness. Any untreated contacts of a case that develops a persistent cough should be tested for pertussis. Confirmed or suspected cases of pertussis that do not receive appropriate antibiotics should be isolated for 3 weeks.

To help diagnose pertussis, a swab of the back of the nose will be done. It may take 1 or 2 days to get the results of this culture test. If pertussis is suspected, antibiotics will be started right away.

Children are admitted to the hospital if they have:

• trouble managing the coughing spells
• apnea
• cyanosis (sy-ah-noe-sis, or blue color to skin), especially around the mouth
• trouble eating or drinking because of coughing
• other complications

If your child is in the hospital, an intravenous line (IV) may be started to give fluids, calories, and antibiotics, until able to drink and eat without too many coughing spells.During the stage of illness when severe coughing can occur it is important to provide a quiet, comforting environment for your child. Infants are often most calm in the arms of their parents or other caregivers.

To prevent the spread of pertussis, all household members and other close contacts (such as at day care) will need antibiotic treatment. The following special precautions are needed until an infected child has completed 5 full days of effective antibiotic therapy. (If the culture test is negative these precautions are no longer needed.)

• Children in the hospital will be in a private room with special precautions. Your child must stay in precautions until 5 full days of treatment, or until discharge.
• Hospital staff members will wear masks when in your child’s room.
• Parents who have signs of infection should wear a mask when coming and going from the hospital, and must visit only in their child’s room until they have been on antibiotic treatment for 5 full days.
• Siblings and other household members should not visit.
• If not in the hospital, your child should stay home from school or day care.

Pertussis, better known as whooping cough, is an acute respiratory infection caused by Bordetella pertussis bacterium. Pertussis is a highly contagious disease that most commonly affects young children, however older teens and adults are susceptible to pertussis and many do catch it because their immunity from vaccination as a child has worn off. Though pertussis poses serious health risks, it can be treated if diagnosed in early stages and closely monitored throughout.

Pertussis has an incubation period ranging from seven to as many as thirty days. The disease has three stages of development. The fist stage, which is known as the catarrhal stage, develops in the first one to two weeks and is marked by symptoms common to other upper respiratory infections. Runny nose, sneezing, low-grade fever, and mild cough are all early stage symptoms. Typically, because the symptoms mimic the common cold, diagnosis doesn’t come until the second stage.

During the second stage of pertussis, the lingering cough becomes gradually worse. It’s common for sufferers to experience bursts of coughing spasms triggered by the body’s failed attempts to dispel the mucus build up in the respiratory track. After coughing, inhalation is marked by a tell-tale whistling or whooping sound. Breathing can be difficult and even labored during this stage.

The final, or convalescent stage, is the recovery stage and may take an additional three to ten weeks. Coughing spasms become less frequent and breathing becomes easier, however lingering affects of pertussis can still cause some discomfort and fatigue. It is best if treatment is administered before this final stage.

Antibiotics are used to treat pertussis, and they are most effective at reducing the severity of the disease if administered during the earlier stages. Complications that can arise with pertussis, especially in young children, include further upper respiratory problems like asthma, malnutrition, and rarely seizures. The number one risk associated with pertussis is secondary bacterial pneumonia. The majority of deaths related to pertussis occur in infants and very young children. If you suspect your child has been exposed to pertussis or is exhibiting symptoms related to the disease, take them to a licensed pediatrician or family practitioner as soon as possible.