It could be pertussis, couldn’t it? (Or just too much cheap vodka.) But if you think this little, spluttering, blueish babe before you has whooping cough, what can you do to make the diagnosis before the pernasal swab has had its merry 48-96 hours to be turned around? Lymphocytosis – that’s meant to be good – but how good is it in a child who might have any other viral infection with lymphs fighting away?

Fret no more about it, as a team from Birmingham, UK, is working on the answer at this very moment.

Acknowledgment: Image from CDC, USA.