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Show WHOOPING COUGH IS NO JOKE XniOOriNQ COUGH is generally regarded ns one of the mildest nnd least Important of children's dls- eases. It Is often regarded almost as a Joke. Sometimes mothers. Ignorant of the danger, deliberately expose their children to It so they can "get It nnd have It over with." Itut whooping cough Is no Joke, as most mothers nnd nil doctors know. Any disease which kills one-half of all the babies under one year which take it Is rnther a grim Joke. During the second year 27 per cent die. Between the second and fifth years IS per cent die. Over SO per cent of all cases and about 07 per cent of all deaths from whooping cough are in children under five years old. The great danger Is not ln the disease dis-ease Itself but ln the pneumonia that often follows It. Whooping cough is caused by a germ which grows In the lungs nnd throat. When the sick child coughs, It throws out drops of moisture which contnln quantities of these germs. The well child breathes them In and ln from seven to ten days develops the disease. dis-ease. It can also hp carried from the sick to the well child by slate pencils, lead pencils, apples, candy, especially all-day suckers, gum or anything else which Is pnssed from one child to another. an-other. The symptoms are those of nn ordinary or-dinary cold with a slight cough and fever. Soon the cough chnnges to the peculiar "whoop" from which the disease gets Its name. This Is due to the choking up of the throat with mucus. There may be half a dozen or ns many ns forty or fifty of these spasms ln twenty-four hours. The disease usually lasts for about six weeks but may lust for four months. The danger Is in tlie pneumonia which may develop in the weakened chlid and cause speedy death. Whooping cough Is a dangerous disease. dis-ease. Don't take any chances. Keep your child away from children who may have It. Don't let It play with Infected children. If your child does get It, protect It from cold nnd exposure ex-posure until the disease has run Its course. |