(HealthDay News) -- Pertussis, more commonly called whooping cough, is a bacterial infection that can be life-threatening in some babies and children who develop complications.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says potential complications of whopping cough among youngsters include:

• The lung infection pneumonia.
• Episodes of convulsions.
• Episodes of apnea, in which breathing slows or temporarily stops.
• The brain disease encephalopathy.
• Death.