The incubation time is 21 days. Go and get the antibiotics, he's allowed to go back to FDC as long as he's taking them. The Dr will be able to tell you if he has to be excluded from car and how long he has to be off for. You'll also need to notify the carer and the Dr may notify the health dept.
The health dept will call your sister. Find out if she named you when they contacted her. If she did they will contact you and give you all the info you need.
Pertussis (whooping cough) usually requires an extended period of close contact to spread - that is why it tends to spread through households.
It is not true, unfortunately, that the child is most contagious when they are coughing; in actual fact, the early symptoms are basic cold symptoms, and it is at this stage (before the cough starts) they they are most contagious.
The vaccination is between 60 and 90% effective, depending on which one you are given and which literature you read. It is actually one of the lesser effective immunisations. Immunity wanes with time as well - the majority of people infected in the most recent outbreak were adults.
You are infective from the first cold symptoms, through to 21 days later. The characteristic cough usually appears a week into the illness. Babies may not have the whoop, but they will often have a post-cough vomit. If you are suspected to have the disease, you will probably be offered an antibiotic called eryhtromycin; this will not make the disease any better, but it does cut down the infective period from 21 days, to 7 days after the start of antibiotics. The cough can persist for up to three months; the cough is actually not caused by the pertussis germ itself, but by a toxin it releases, which takes months to be eliminated from the body.
In terms of family day care, I think, depending on the amount and duration of contact you had with your niece, your risk of catching pertussis is low. As long as he does not contract any respirator symptoms, you should be safe. If you want to be sure, you can start him on eryhtromycin; he will be clear to return to FDC after 7 days.
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