Whooping cough, aka the ‘100-day cough,’ is a bacterial disease that infects millions of people each year. The pertussis vaccine, developed in 1926, protects us from the Bordetella pertussis bacterium that causes the infection. However, according to a recent Science Alert article, B. pertussis strains are adapting to the vaccines to improve their survival. As one microbiologist stated, “Put simply, the bacteria that cause whooping cough are becoming better at hiding and better at feeding - they are morphing into a superbug.”
