We've all suffered from a cough, but it is difficult for many to imagine how difficult family life could be before routine Whooping Cough vaccination began in the 1950s.

Whooping Cough got its name from the sound made by the massive intake of breath made by the child once all the air in their lungs has been coughed out. It is no wonder that a whooping cough attack is a very distressing condition for both parent and child.

And the condition can last  up to 12 weeks, with around 15 coughing bouts per day, every day. In some cases the condition proves to be fatal.

Whooping cough is caused by a bacteria called Bordetella Pertussis, it is one of the most contagious bacterial infections in the world as the infection is carried by the airborne droplets from the breath of the infected person.

Anyone spending even a short time in the same room as an infected person is highly likely to catch the disease, if they are not vaccinated against it.

Before routine vaccination, there were an incredible 100,000 reported cases of Whooping Cough in England and Wales every year - around three in four children in the UK caught it because it was so contagious. As a rule, if a child got it, all his brothers and sisters would get it too - babies included.

So when a general vaccination was introduced, it must have felt like something of a miracle for some. Since those days, thanks to vaccination, whooping cough cases are now, thankfully, rare. However, this is only because vaccinations are being carried out. Without vaccination, a child risks catching this unpleasant, and completely preventable, disease.