An important issue in the history of ecology has been the study of the relative importance of deterministic forces and processes noise in shaping the dynamics of ecological populations. We address this question by exploring the temporal dynamics of two childhood infections, measles and whooping cough, in England and Wales. We demonstrate that epidemics of whooping cough are strongly influenced ...

An epidemic of whooping cough occurred in a rural practice in Shetland, containing 144 children under 16. Before July 1974 all children were immunised against pertussis, but after that date immunisation was stopped. Of the 134 children studied, 93 had been immunised. Sixty-five of the children developed whooping cough. The incidence of infection was similar in those who had and had not been imm...

Trends in postperinatal infant mortality from respiratory causes and the sudden infant death syndrome in England and Wales for 1968 to 1984 were examined. These were compared by time series analysis with changes in the incidence of specific infective diseases and organisms for the same period. Discontinuity was found in association with the occurrence of whooping cough between 1977 and 1982. As...

The official recommendations on the contraindications to whooping cough immunisation are currently couched in general terms. The results of a simple inquiry made to directors of public health laboratories, general paediatriciains, paediatric neurologists, medical officers, general practitioners, and health visitors to see how they would interpret the contraindications in certain specific cases ...

In an attempt to determine the clinical severity and prognosis of children admitted to hospital with whooping cough, 127 patients were studied prospectively during a 12-month period. Clinical and laboratory criteria were used and the impression gained was that most cases were mild, although 3 children were dangerously ill and at least 30% had symptoms lasting 2 months or longer. There were no d...

Bordetella pertussis, the aetiological agent of an acute upper respiratory tract disease of humans, “whooping cough”, can infect all age groups with adolescents and adults acting as major source of transmission of this pathogen to infants. This transmission is promoted by the fact that adolescents and adults do not exhibit the characteristic cough, the infection being either asymptomatic or man...

background: bordetella pertussis is the causative agent of pertussis. in brazil, laboratory diagnosis of pertussis is based on the culture. in 2010, was standardized the real-time pcr taqman® in routine diagnosis. objectives: the aim of this study was to evaluate the impact achieved with the introduction of rt-pcr for the routine diagnosis of pertussis and to compare with the results obtained f...

The effects of whooping cough were studied in 21 children admitted to hospital with the disease and in their families. The illness caused considerable distress to both child and family. Parents suffered especially from fears for the life and health of their child and from serious loss of sleep. Two months after admission the child's behaviour was still disturbed, but in most cases the rest of t...