" Whooping cough (or pertussis):Acute, very contagious childhood disease, typically with bouts of coughing followed by a long, loud inhalation (whoop) and ending with mucus expulsion and often vomiting."
In years gone by, many children were afflicted with polio, measles, mumps, Rubella, influenza, small pox, diphtheria, whooping cough and others.
Measles, mumps and whooping cough have spread since the children were not vaccinated.
Scarlet fever, measles, whooping cough: Kennedy's childhood was riddled with health issues.
Immunization against Hib, pneumococcus, measles and whooping cough (pertussis) is the most effective way to prevent pneumonia.
The proportion of the world's infants vaccinated against diphtheria, whooping cough, and tetanus has climbed from less than half to 82 percent between 1985 and 2008.
That can be a sign of pertussis, or whooping cough, which can be serious and has been more prevalent in the past few years.