Pertussis (whooping cough)

General: Causative agent Haemophilus pertussis (Bordetella pertussis); not all patients who develop pertussis encephalopathy are children.

Ocular: Conjunctivitis; severe cortical blindness; papilledema; choroiditis; retinal ischemia; ocular muscle palsies; hemorrhages of eyelids, conjunctiva, orbit, anterior chamber, and retina; chronic papilledema; optic neuritis; retinal and vitreous hemorrhages, and even intracranial and subarachnoid hemorrhage associated with increased intrathoracic and intraabdominal pressures during coughing.

Clinical: Respiratory tract infection; nasal discharge; cough ending with a loud crowing; inspiratory noise (the 'whoop'); thick mucoid sputum; soreness over trachea; ulcer of glottis; vomiting; tetany; encephalopathy; cortical blindness.

Halperin SA, Marcie TJ. Pertussis encephalopathy in an adult: case report and review. Rev Inject Dis 1991; 13: 1043-l047.

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Hewlett EL: Bordetella species. In: Mandell GL, Douglas RG Jr, Bennett JE, eds. Principles and Practice of infectious diseases, 3rd ed. New York: Churchill Livingstone, 1990: 1756-l762.

Keller MA. Adenovirus infection and pertussis-like syndrome. J Pediatr 1980; 96:177-l78.

Miller NR, ed. Walsh and Hoyts Clinical Neuro-Ophthalmology, vol. 5, part 1, 4th ed. Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins, 1995:3087.