Vomiting phlegm?

[~clover~]

DS had the flu about 2 weeks ago & seemed to get over everything but the cough.
Yesterday they all had the flu again & DS's cough is alot worse than ts been so far. Full of phlegm & he fights to get a breath when having a cough attack.
It didn't last too long this morning, but he vomited phlegm after & it was green. He also has a green runny nose, but only a very slight temp & seems ok otherwise.
He doesn't look/act sick, still plenty of energy & feeding/eating/drinking etc.
It was only the early morning cough so far.
Should I get him checked out anyway??

[Schmickers]

Ordinarily I would say no, you probably don't need to, but then I had a look where you are from, and you're not far from me.

We are having a major outbreak of pertussis (whooping cough) at the moment, and the symptoms you describe - starting off with a flu-like illness, progressing to a cough, and then vomiting after coughing - are classic whooping cough.

I'd take him to your GP and mention that you are concerned it might be whopping cough, and get them to do a nose or throat swab or an NPA (where they suck a bit of the mucous out of the back of the throat) and send it off to test for pertussis.

If it is whooping cough, at your DS's age, I wouldn't panic as it isn't life threatening. You just need to watch his feeding and make sure he is drinking enough, as sometimes the cough can interfere with feeding. If it is pertussis, the doctor will probably give him a course of the antibiotic erythromycin, or possibly clarithromycin - it won't help much with the symptoms, but it will limit his infectious period to 14 days intstead of 21 days. The rest of the family will probably be offered a course of antibiotics as well, in the hopes that the rest of you don't get it.

If you want, you and any other adults in the house might want to consider a booster immunisation for pertussis; it is thought that immunity wanes over time and that many adults are no longer immune to pertussis. That said, the immunisation is only 90% effective in children and adults, so it is very much up to you.

If it is whooping cough, be prepared for the coughing symptoms to last up to 3 months. The Chinese call it the "Hundred Day Cough".

Hope this helps.

[~clover~]

3 months...sounds like fun. I'll get him checked JIC.
Thankyou