The whooping cough, also called pertussis, is no harmless cough, it is a highly contagious bacterial infection that dwells in the respiratory tract.

The whooping cough gets it's name from the high-pitched, half-gasping "whoop" sound one (usually children) makes after recovering from severe hacking cough fit.

According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention the whooping cough is "caused by the bacterium Bordetella pertussis. The microbes attach to tiny hairs in the respiratory tract called cilia, and release toxins that can cause swelling and damage cilia.

A sickness that typically targets babies and young children, people with weak immune system (low defense against bacteria) or have incomplete vaccination records are at risk as well.

The whooping cough is extremely fatal for infants, especially for those who are still to young to have the vaccine treatments; the figures stated by CDC being that 50 percent of babies younger than a year old will need to be checked into a hospital. And of that number, a quarter of these babies will also develop an infection in their lungs.

CDC information also revealed that in recent times there has been an increase of the severity of the cases in the US alone, with the year 2012 having more than 48. 000 cases, more than twice the cases reported the year before.

While there is a vaccine treatment for people diagnosed with the sickness, it's best one catches it from the early symptoms. Once infected, it takes as little as three weeks for the telling signs to show up.The whooping cough symptoms has similarities to that of a typical cold, having runny nose, nasal congestion, sneezing, red teary eyes, low grade fever, and dry cough. As the bacteria progresses over the next two weeks, thick mucus will start to form inside the airways which will trigger and cause severe coughing for an extended duration of time. The time to see the doctor is when the prolonged coughing spells start to provoke vomiting and loss of breath resulting in a red or blue face.

The first class of treatment is antibiotics, but when worse comes to worse and the antibiotics is ineffective that is when they recommend the use of the whooping cough vaccine which is the DTaP (diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis) vaccine.

Children should receive a series of five vaccinations at ages 2, 4, 6 and 15 to 18 months, and 4 to 6 years, the CDC says.

To ensure continued immunization Teens should get the Tdap whooping booster shot when the are around the age of 11 to 12. Adults 19 years above should have a Tdap shot instead of their tetanus shots every 10 years.

And as to give protection to infants 2 months below, CDC recommends that the mothers also get vaccinated during the pregnancy (in order to encourage the transferring of the antibodies to the fetus) parents should keep their baby away from anyone with cough or cold symptoms and recommend that the relatives, and friends who plan to be around a lot should get the recommended vaccinations as well.