BACKGROUND Pertussis is an acute infectious illness, caused by the bacteria Bordetella pertussis and commonly known as "whooping cough". Waning immunity after vaccination or after natural infection contributes significantly to the increasing incidence rates in adolescents and adults. Prevention of pertussis in industrialized countries is mainly based on immunization with acellular vaccines in c...

TO THE EDITOR—The excellent study by Koepke et al [1] on rapidly waning immunity of tetanus-diphtheria-acellular pertussis (Tdap) vaccines given in adolescence adds to the list of other well-done studies demonstrating that the duration of protection provided by acellular pertussis vaccines is substantially lower than that provided by whole-cell pertussis vaccines [2, 3]. We agree with the autho...

OBJECTIVE The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends immunization of preterm infants at 2 months' chronological age with diphtheria-tetanus-acellular pertussis vaccine, regardless of birth weight and gestational age. Several investigators have reported an increased incidence of cardiorespiratory events in preterm infants after immunization. Consequently, many primary care providers do not ad...

Pertussis is increasingly recognized as a source of infection in adults who then commonly infect young children. Immunity to illness caused by Bordetella pertussis is not long-lived, so optimal control of pertussis may require booster immunizations. In a cost-benefit analysis, we evaluated the benefits of 7 independent strategies for administering a pertussis booster, in the form of a diphtheri...

Reports of suspected adverse events following immunisation (AEFI) are reviewed by the Adverse Drug Reactions Advisory Committee and collated in a central database. We analysed AEFI records for vaccines administered during October 2002 to December 2003, and assessed AEFI reporting trends for 2000 to 2003. AEFI reporting rates were calculated using denominator data from the Australian Childhood I...

BACKGROUND  Maternal vaccination with an acellular pertussis (aP)-containing vaccine is a recommended strategy in a growing number of industrialized countries, to protect young infants from disease. Little is known on the effect of this strategy in low- and middle-income countries. Following a previous report on the effect of adding a pertussis and diphtheria component to the tetanus vaccinatio...

BACKGROUND Tetanus-reduced dose diphtheria-acellular pertussis (Tdap) vaccination during adolescence was introduced in response to the resurgence of pertussis in various countries. A new Tdap vaccine was manufactured in Korea as a countermeasure against a predicted Tdap vaccine shortage. This study was performed to evaluate the immunogenicity, safety, and protection efficacy against Bordetella ...

OBJECTIVE To assess the efficacy and safety of whole-cell and acellular pertussis vaccines administered to children singly or within diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (DTP) vaccines. DATA SOURCES We searched the Cochrane Library, MEDLINE, EMBASE, Biological Abstracts and Science Citation Index to December 2001. Specialised websites and bibliographies of retrieved articles and reviews were ass...

OBJECTIVE To describe missed opportunities for meningococcal (MCV); tetanus, diphtheria, acellular pertussis (Tdap); and human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination among adolescents. METHODS Retrospective electronic health record data review of adolescents aged 11-18 years at the time of their visit to a university-based pediatric practice in Seattle from 2006 to 2011. The primary outcome was mis...