BMJ  2007;334:532-533 (10 March), doi:10.1136/bmj.39120.556296.AE

Practice

A patient's journey: whooping cough

Ros Levenson, patient

London

ros@roslevenson.demon.co.uk

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Introduction

Recently I had whooping cough. This has now been confirmed by the results of a blood test. I was in little doubt about the diagnosis from the beginning. However, my experience suggests that, despite considerable literature on the prevalence of whooping cough in adults, the diagnosis is still not one that doctors readily think of when they are faced with an adult rather than an infant or child.

I can well understand why the general practitioners I saw in the first couple of weeks did not diagnose whooping cough at once. I am aware that the duration of the symptoms, as well as the nature of the symptoms themselves, is important, and there were more obvious diagnoses that sprang to mind. However, when I experienced the first two or three terrifying paroxysmal coughing sessions, I knew it was a cough unlike anything I had had previously and said so. It . . . [Full text of this article]

Learning only half the lesson: a doctor's perspective


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