Bordetella pertussis, Bordetella parapertussis, and Bordetella bronchiseptica are closely related subspecies that cause respiratory tract infections in humans and other mammals and express many similar virulence factors. Their lipopolysaccharide (LPS) molecules differ, containing either a complex trisaccharide (B. pertussis), a trisaccharide plus an O-antigen-like repeat (B. bronchiseptica), or...

A simple and rapid semiquantitative slide catalase test useful for the identification of oxidative and nonsaccharolytic gram-negative bacteria, i.e., "nonfermenters," is described. Using the interpretative criterion of time of appearance of oxygen bubbles in 3% hydrogen peroxide, three categories of nonfermenters were established. The rapid catalase producers included Achromobacter xylosoxidans...

Pertussis (also called whooping cough) is a highly contagious disease affecting human respiratory tract, due to the agents: Bordetella pertussis and less frequently Bordetella parapertussis (1). It remains a public health problem in many developed and developing countries. This disease is lifethreatening in infants under the age of three months and may also be serious in pregnant women and the ...

Immunization with whole-cell pertussis vaccines (WCV) containing heat-killed Bordetella pertussis cells and with acellular vaccines containing genetically or chemically detoxified pertussis toxin (PT) in combination with filamentous hemagglutinin (FHA), pertactin (Prn), or fimbriae confers protection in humans and animals against B. pertussis infection. In an earlier study we demonstrated that ...

A duplex PCR to detect Bordetella pertussis and Bordetella parapertussis was developed with the insertion sequences IS481 (B. pertussis) and IS1001 (B. parapertussis) and evaluated with specimens from 520 consecutive patients presenting with possible pertussis. No culture-positive-PCR-negative results occurred, giving the method a sensitivity of 100%. For B. pertussis, 58 of 520 patients (11.2%...