Evaluation of polymerase chain reaction and culture for diagnosis of pertussis in the control of a county-wide outbreak focused among adolescents and adults

Abstract

During a large pertussis outbreak, culture and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) were used to identify 149 case patients; of these case patients, 79 had positive PCR and culture results, 59 had positive PCR results and negative culture results, 11 had negative PCR results and positive culture results (10 PCR-negative, culture-positive specimens were collected ≤14 days after illness onset). PCR and culture of samples obtained ≤2 weeks after illness onset and PCR of samples obtained >2 weeks after illness onset proved to be most diagnostically useful. © 2007 by the Infectious Diseases Society of America. All rights reserved.