Bordetella pertussis

Abstract

Bordetella pertussis is the agent of whooping cough, contagious respiratory disease, dangerous for newborns and young infants. This gram-negative, aerobic, bacterium may be isolated from nasopharyngeal aspirates collected from infected patients using media containing horse or sheep blood. The actual vaccine, consisting of heat-killed bacterial suspensions, is very efficacious but induces secondary effects. Acellular vaccines were recently set up. They are composed of purified bacterial toxins and adhesins. They are immunogenic, well tolerated and efficacious but their efficacy is lower than that of the best whole-cell vaccines. Biological diagnosis is either direct like culture or polymerase chain reaction or indirect like serological diagnosis.