Newly emerging clones of bordetella pertussis carrying prn2 and ptxP3 alleles implicated in australian pertussis epidemic in 2008-2010

Abstract

Australia is experiencing a prolonged epidemic of pertussis that began in 2008. A total of 194 Bordetella pertussis isolates collected from 2008 through 2010 were typed by single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) analysis, by multilocus variable number tandem repeats analysis, and by fim3, prn, and ptxP sequence analyses. Strains with 2 closely related SNP profiles carrying prn2 and ptxP3 from the recently emerged SNP cluster I predominated. The data suggest increasing selection among the B. pertussis population in Australia in favor of strains carrying prn2 and ptxP3 under the pressure of acellular vaccine-induced immunity. © The Author 2012. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Infectious Diseases Society of America.