<s>[INST] A student at my sons school has been diagnosed with whooping cough.  he has had an ongoing cough for one week, and it is persistently getting worse.  He hasnt ran a fever, but his left tonsil is at least double in size as the right one.   no other symptoms, except that 4/4/2011 was given amox for a sinus infection.  What are the chances of this being whooping cough? [/INST] Hello dear, Thank you for your question. Whooping cough is highly contagious, especially in the first couple of weeks after the onset of cough. Schools are among the most common places where child Chat Doctor.  I would suspect whooping cough, if your child had had cough for at least 14 days, especially if the cough is accompanied by a suffocation sensation or vomiting. A PCR testing of a nasal swab may help the diagnosis of whooping cough. The tonsil enlargement is not typical of whooping cough, but is a possible finding. I usually treat my patients with Erythromycin or Azithromycin. Since these are prescription based  </s>