BBC Breakfast's Carol Kirkwood gives rare health update (2024)

BBC Breakfast star Carol Kirkwood finally shared a health update with viewers on Tuesday.

Fans have recently noticed Carol, 62, struggling with a hoarse voice and cough while presenting the weather.

During the show, when Carolhanded off back to hosts Sally Nugent and Jon Kay, Sally told Carol: 'Your voice nearly lasted to the very end there, Carol, well done!'

Carol then clarified: 'I know. It's this pesky 100-day cough. It just keeps giving. It won't go.'

Known medically as pertussis, the bacterial chest infection commonly progresses through three stages — with the first largely similar to the common cold.

BBC Breakfast star Carol Kirkwood finally shared a health update with viewers on Tuesday

During the show, when Carol handed off back to hosts Sally Nugent and Jon Kay, Sally told Carol: 'Your voice nearly lasted to the very end there, Carol, well done!'

Sufferers can then be left with a chronic cough that remains for several weeks.

After revealing her illness, Sally said 'Well get better soon,' before Jon added: 'We'll give you another chance in half an hour and see you then!'

The weather presenter recently took a break from BBC Breakfast, with fellow star Matt Taylor explaining her absence from the show.

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Matt wrote on X: 'Good morning. We've sent @carolkirkwood off to see if she can persuade summer to pay us a longer visit.

'In the meantime, I'm looking after the @BBCBreakfast forecast this week and …oh look …more rain.'

Last week, Carol swiped 'I'm really disappointed' over Strictly Come Dancing's ongoing scandal on Thursday and admitted that she no longer watches the show.

In recent weeks, Strictly has been embroiled in accusations about their professional dancers bullying and abusing their celebrity partners.

The scandal erupted in January when actress Amanda Abbington accused her Strictly partner Giovanni Pernice of abuse after she unexpectedly quit the programme just five weeks in.

Then, in July, it emerged that Graziano Di Prima had been sacked from Strictly for 'kicking' his partner, Love Island star Zara McDermott.

Scottish meteorologist Carol appeared on BBC reality show Strictly Come Dancing in 2015, and was partnered with Pasha Kovalev.

She told the Daily Express on Thursday: 'Yes [I'm surprised], I'm really disappointed as well, they're doing the right thing by investigating all these claims.'

Carol said she 'loved' her time on the show with her 'lovely' dance partner Pasha, 38, who now appears on Dancing With The Stars.

Carol then clarified: 'I know. It's this pesky 100-day cough. It just keeps giving. It won't go.'

Earlier this week she swiped 'I'm really disappointed' over Strictly Come Dancing's ongoing scandal on Thursday and admitted that she no longer watches the show

The presenter also said she didn't experience or hear of any problems from her fellow hopefuls at the time.

But, she empathised: 'I know too much and I know what they're going through with the nerves... You're looking for the nearest fire escape to get out of there because you're consumed by nerves, so I haven't watched it for a long time.'

On an episode of the Off Air... With Jane And Fi podcast, which aired in July, Carol added of her Strictly experience: 'I loved it. I found the Saturday evening absolutely nerve-racking, but the experience, especially the training with Pasha, was my favourite bit.

'He was so patient, so kind, I would say, "I can't do this" and he'd say, "Tomorrow, you'll be able to."

'He was lovely to me, so I've got absolutely no complaints whatsoever. I will never forget it, and I don't regret doing it.'

BBC Breakfast airs 6am to 9am each morning on BBC One, the BBC News channel and BBC iPlayer.

What is whooping cough?

Whooping cough is caused by the pertussis bacteria and is spread by coughing and sneezing.

The infection is initially difficult to tell apart from a cold, as the first signs are a runny nose and sore throat.

But around a week later, sufferers may develop coughing bouts that last minutes, struggle to breathe after coughing and make a 'whoop' sound between coughs.

Other signs of whooping cough include bringing up a thick mucus that can cause vomiting and becoming red in the face.

Sufferers are infectious from around six days aftercold-like symptoms develop to three weeks after their cough starts.

Doctors dish out antibiotics as treatment if the whooping cough is detected within three weeks. However, if a person has been infected for longer, antibiotics will not speed up their recovery.

The infection can be fatal, with up to 3 per cent of newborns dying from it, according toProfessor Paul Hunter, an expert in infectious diseases from the University of East Anglia.

Additionally, most babies under six months with whooping cough are hospitalised with complications, such as dehydration, breathing difficulties and pneumonia.

It is less severe in older children and adults but can still cause sore ribs, a hernias, ear infections and urinary incontinence among these groups.

The 6-in-1 vaccine, given to babies at eight, 12 and 16 weeks, and the 4-in-1 pre-school booster, administered to children aged three years and four months, is vital for protecting against catching whooping cough.

Pregnant women are also encouraged to get the vaccine to protect their baby from catching the infection in the first few weeks of their life.

BBC Breakfast's Carol Kirkwood gives rare health update (2024)
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