How to Use pertussis in a Sentence

pertussis

noun
  • And what's gone under the radar is pertussis.
    — Mary Kekatos, ABC News, 9 Sep. 2025
  • Feleena had pertussis, or whooping cough.
    — Erika Edwards, NBC news, 17 Dec. 2025
  • Whooping cough, also called pertussis, spreads through coughs and sneezes.
    — Julie Washington, cleveland, 24 Nov. 2019
  • This is one reason why the number of pertussis cases went down.
    — Dr. Shreya Doshi, Boston Herald, 8 Dec. 2024
  • Texas health data shows a steady uptick in diseases such as pertussis and mumps in recent years.
    — The Washington Post, The Mercury News, 21 Feb. 2017
  • For young infants, pertussis can cause severe disease and even death.
    — Jasmine Laws, MSNBC Newsweek, 11 Dec. 2025
  • Over the last month, pertussis infections have been rising again.
    — Alexander Tin, CBS News, 11 Feb. 2025
  • Vaccines can also help prevent getting sick with pertussis in the first place.
    — Alix Martichoux, The Hill, 21 Nov. 2024
  • Whooping cough is caused by bacteria known as pertussis.
    — Ciara McCarthy, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 20 Feb. 2026
  • There are two types of pertussis vaccines in the United States.
    — Sabrina Malhi The Washington Post, arkansasonline.com, 26 Dec. 2024
  • Here’s what to know about pertussis and how to keep yourself and your family safe from the infection.
    — Meghan Bartels, Scientific American, 9 Oct. 2024
  • The danger with pertussis is the cough that can linger for weeks to months and difficulty breathing.
    — Nicole Villalpando, Austin American Statesman, 25 Feb. 2026
  • For many people, pertussis is a mild infection.
    — Jasmine Laws, MSNBC Newsweek, 11 Dec. 2025
  • Measles, tetanus, pertussis, and mumps appeared on exams, not in hospital wards.
    — Krutika Kuppalli, STAT, 12 Jan. 2026
  • The vaccine works well against diphtheria and tetanus, but is less effective over time for pertussis.
    — Erika Edwards, NBC News, 20 Sep. 2024
  • Meanwhile, your baby should receive their first pertussis vaccine at 2 months of age.
    — Evan Forster, Parents, 17 June 2024
  • That displaces Ohio, which had been the state with the most pertussis infections for many recent weeks.
    — Alexander Tin, CBS News, 11 Feb. 2025
  • And the more doses of the acellular vaccine, the higher the pertussis risk.
    — Carrie Arnold, Discover Magazine, 23 May 2013
  • Illnesses like the flu, the common cold, and pertussis (whooping cough) are thought to mainly spread this way.
    — Colleen Stinchcombe, SELF, 13 Feb. 2019
  • They can also be given to at-risk close contacts of pertussis cases to prevent them from getting sick.
    — Alexander Tin, CBS News, 14 Aug. 2024
  • This has led to a concerning rise of measles and pertussis outbreaks which have sickened babies and children.
    — Dr. Eve Meltzer Krief, New York Daily News, 29 Jan. 2025
  • About one-third of babies younger than 12 months with pertussis need treatment in a hospital.
    — Nathaniel Weixel, The Hill, 12 Nov. 2025
  • At first, pertussis can seem like the common cold, causing symptoms like a runny or stuffy nose, red, watery eyes, a fever, and a cough.
    — Korin Miller, SELF, 7 Apr. 2018
  • Edwards said that researchers are studying new versions of the pertussis vaccine, like a nasal spray, that could be stronger and longer lasting.
    — Erika Edwards, NBC news, 17 Dec. 2025
  • Most clinicians these days have never seen — and never expected to see — measles, tetanus, pertussis, and mumps.
    — Theresa Gaffney, STAT, 12 Jan. 2026
  • Infants don’t get their own pertussis shots until two months old, and contracting the virus before then can cause severe illness and even death.
    — Fran Kritz, Verywell Health, 7 Mar. 2025
  • That includes public doubts about an early childhood vaccine that can prevent pertussis, or whooping cough.
    — Jim Morrill, Charlotte Observer, 11 Dec. 2025
  • With so many common sense ways to bring down the rate of pertussis infections, there’s no excuse for any parent to have to hear that heartbreaking cough.
    — Lisa Jarvis, The Mercury News, 14 Jan. 2025
  • This was a vaccine called DTP, for diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis.
    — Terri Levien, The Conversation, 25 June 2025
  • Of the three diseases, immunity wanes fastest for pertussis, says Chin-Hong.
    — Caroline C. Boyle, USA Today, 20 Apr. 2025

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'pertussis.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Last Updated: