pertussis

per·tus·sis | \ pər-ˈtə-səs

How to pronounce pertussis (audio)

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Definition of pertussis

: whooping cough

Examples of pertussis in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Babies typically get their first pertussis shot at 2 months, but will not be fully protected until 6 months. — Alix Boyle, courant.com, "Roll up your sleeve: Vaccines for people over 50," 16 Sep. 2019 Your baby is diagnosed with pertussis, or whooping cough. — Sabrina Adams, SELF, "I Treat Infants With Whooping Cough in the ICU—Of Course I’m Pro-Vaccine," 26 Aug. 2019 This is the tetanus vaccine, combined with vaccines for diphtheria and pertussis, also known as whooping cough. — Alix Boyle, courant.com, "Roll up your sleeve: Vaccines for people over 50," 16 Sep. 2019 That includes cases such as salmonella, or even pertussis, another vaccine-preventable disease. — Natasha Lavender, SELF, "4 Doctors on the Frustration, Anxiety, and Fear of Treating Patients with Vaccine-Preventable Illnesses," 26 Aug. 2019 Measles 1947 Diptheria One reason for the rebound in pertussiscould be that newer vaccines with fewer side effects also wear off sooner. — Richard Conniff, National Geographic, "The world before vaccines is a world we can’t afford to forget," 16 Aug. 2019 Before 1997, the whooping cough vaccine used actual cells of B. pertussis to trigger the immune system. — Arman Azad, CNN, "Whooping cough vaccine becomes less effective over time, study says," 10 June 2019 Burbank Unified registered 11 cases of pertussis, or whooping cough, and three cases of chickenpox last year. — Andrew J. Campa, Burbank Leader, "State says Burbank Unified’s kindergartens are ‘safe’ in defending against disease outbreaks," 6 Aug. 2019 Virginia health officials noted that laboratory tests identified a variety of causes of the outbreaks, including pathogens for Legionnaire’s disease, flu, the common cold and pertussis, or whooping cough. — Washington Post, "Virginia reports higher-than-usual number of respiratory illnesses," 3 Aug. 2019

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'pertussis.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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Last Updated

6 Nov 2019

Time Traveler for pertussis

The first known use of pertussis was circa 1772

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