Whooping cough/ Pertussis

Whooping cough - or pertussis - is an infection of the respiratory system caused by the bacterium Bordetella pertussis (or B. pertussis). It's characterized by severe coughing spells that end in a "whooping" sound when the person breathes in.

Pertussis is highly contagious. The bacteria spread from person to person through tiny drops of fluid from an infected person's nose or mouth. These may become airborne when the person sneezes, coughs, or laughs. Other people then can become infected by inhaling the drops or getting the drops on their hands and then touching their mouths or noses. Infected people are most contagious during the earliest stages of the illness up to about 2 weeks after the cough begins. Antibiotics shorten the period of contagiousness to 5 days following the start of antibiotic treatment.

 

More

http://dir.yahoo.com/Health/Diseases_and_Conditions/Whooping_Cough/

http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/hardin/md/whoopingcough.html

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/whoopingcough.html