BACKGROUND Despite high vaccination coverage, pertussis incidence in the Netherlands is amongst the highest in Europe with a shifting tendency towards adults and elderly. Early detection of outbreaks and preventive actions are necessary to prevent severe complications in infants. Efficient pertussis control requires additional background knowledge about the determinants of testing and possible ...

77 Infection by the Gram-negative bacterium Bordetella pertussis can lead to the development of pertussis, also known as whooping cough due to the characteristic sound infected infants make following a severe coughing fit. Infection by B. pertussis is fairly common, but it rarely causes serious complications in adults. However, the infection can be fatal in infants and young children if left un...

BACKGROUND Pertussis vaccination compliance is critical for reduction in the prevalence of disease; however, the current acellular pertussis vaccine may not provide sufficient protection from infection. This study examined acellular pertussis vaccine effectiveness (VE) for Air Force dependents less than 12 years of age. METHODS We conducted a case-control study among Air Force pediatric depen...

BACKGROUND The recent increase in whooping cough incidence (primarily caused by Bordetella pertussis) presents a challenge to both public health practitioners and scientists trying to understand the mechanisms behind its resurgence. Three main hypotheses have been proposed to explain the resurgence: 1) waning of protective immunity from vaccination or natural infection over time, 2) evolution o...

Pertussis remains difficult to control. Imperfect sensitivity of diagnostic tests and lack of specific guidance regarding interpretation of negative test results among patients with compatible symptoms may contribute to its spread. In this study, we examined whether additional pertussis cases could be identified if persons with negative pertussis test results were routinely investigated. We con...

U nlike many other severe epidemic infectious diseases, pertussis lacks an ancient history. Perhaps the earliest mention of pertussis, or whooping cough, is of a 1414 outbreak in Paris in Moulton’s The Mirror of Health, published in 1640. A contemporary observer, Guillaume de Baillou, described a 1578 epidemic of pertussis in Paris and, by the middle of the 18th century, pertussis was well reco...

Bordetella bronchiseptica can use catecholamines to obtain iron from transferrin and lactoferrin via uptake pathways involving the BfrA, BfrD, and BfrE outer membrane receptor proteins, and although Bordetella pertussis has the bfrD and bfrE genes, the role of these genes in iron uptake has not been demonstrated. In this study, the bfrD and bfrE genes of B. pertussis were shown to be functional...

In a number of countries, whole cell pertussis vaccines (wcP) were replaced by acellular vaccines (aP) due to an improved reactogenicity profile. Pertussis immunization leads to specific antibody production with the help of CD4(+) T cells. In earlier studies in infants and young children, wcP vaccines selectively induced a Th1 dominated immune response, whereas aP vaccines led to a Th2 biased r...

The abilities of cysteine-containing compounds to support growth of Bordetella pertussis and influence pertussis toxin transcription, assembly, and secretion were examined. Cysteine is an essential amino acid for B. pertussis and must be present for protein synthesis and bacterial growth. However, cysteine can be metabolized to sulfate, and high concentrations of sulfate can selectively inhibit...

Pertussis remains difficult to control. Imperfect sensitivity of diagnostic tests and lack of specific guidance regarding interpretation of negative test results among patients with compatible symptoms may contribute to its spread. In this study, we examined whether additional pertussis cases could be identified if persons with negative pertussis test results were routinely investigated. We con...