Whooping cough and diphtheria are vaccine preventable diseases. Diphtheria, due to Corynebacterium diphtheriae or Corynebactium ulcerans, two Gram positive bacteria, is a serious upper respiratory tract disease with high morbidity and mortality rates. Vaccination, via an acellular vaccine composed only of purified, detoxified diphtheria toxin, has significantly reduced the incidence of the dise...

In many clinical microbiology laboratories, nucleic acid amplification tests such as PCR have become the routine methods for the diagnosis of pertussis. While PCR has greatly increased the ability of laboratories to detect Bordetella pertussis infections, it has also been associated with false-positive results that can, given the tendency of B. pertussis to cause outbreaks, result in unnecessar...

background pertussis is a highly communicable, vaccine-preventable respiratory disease; which may circulate even in populations with high vaccination coverage. although frequent, but it is often underestimated as a cause of prolonged cough illness in both children and adults. without boosting, the protection of the childhood vaccination would be minimal after 10 years. the need for adult booste...

Vaccine formulations and vaccination programs against whooping cough (pertussis) vary worldwide. Here, we report the complete genome sequences of two divergent Bordetella pertussis reference strains used in the production of pertussis vaccines.

Bacteria of the genus Bordetella adhere preferentially to ciliated respiratory epithelial cells. We investigated the specificity of this unique tropism by assessing the concentration-dependent adherence of the three Bordetella species to ciliated cells from different hosts. Bordetella pertussis and Bordetella parapertussis adhere better to human ciliated cells than to those from rabbits, mice, ...

Pertussis is a vaccine-preventable disease that affects people of all ages. Young adults who have lost their immunity to pertussis are the major source of infection in infants. Given the steady increase of pertussis cases, new prevention strategies are required. Objective. To assess pertussis seroprevalence in adult blood donors, post-partum women, and umbilical cords. Metod. Measurement of tot...

Presence of antibody to adenylate cyclase toxin (ACT) has been noted following Bordetella pertussis infection. Because ACT is not presently in any acellular pertussis vaccines, it has been considered as a possible antigen to use in B. pertussis diagnostic enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) studies. We determined antibody to B. pertussis ACT by ELISA and Western blot tests in serum sample...

Plasmids of the P and W incompatibility groups were introduced into Bordetella pertussis by conjugation. Plasmid DNA isolated from B. pertussis could be reintroduced by transformation. DNA isolated from Escherichia coli could not be introduced into B. pertussis by transformation if this DNA contained HindIII restriction sites. We have demonstrated that HindIII sites are modified by B. pertussis...

P.69 pertactin (P.69 Prn), an adhesion molecule from the causative agent of pertussis, Bordetella pertussis, is present in cellular and most acellular vaccines that are currently used worldwide. Although both humoral immunity and cellular immunity directed against P.69 Prn have been implicated in protective immune mechanisms, the identities of CD4(+) T-cell epitopes on the P.69 Prn protein rema...

BACKGROUND The clinical presentation of Bordetella pertussis can overlap with that of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV); however, management differs. HYPOTHESIS First, the prevalence of B. pertussis is less than 2% among patients screened for RSV, and second the prevalence of B. parapertussis is also less than 2% among these patients. METHODS Nasal washings submitted to a clinical laborator...