Being a bacterial illness it responds to antibiotics, although the organism is resistant to penicillin.
Pertussis vaccine is present in the triple antigen and is given to children starting at eight weeks of age. The greatest threat to children from whooping cough is to those under 12 months old.
The whooping cough part of triple antigen is usually not given to those over 12 months old. When immunisation is necessary, the CDT (combined diphtheria and tetanus) vaccine is used instead.
Cough suppressants are of little use trying to control whooping cough, but the child will usually respond fairly quickly once antibiotics are given.
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