Detection of Bordetella pertussis in Infants Suspected to have Whooping Cough

BACKGROUND: Even with high coverage of vaccination programs, Bordetella pertussis is still reported in various countries. It causes a high rate of mortality and morbidity in infants while it could be asymptomatic in adults. At the present study, we are going to evaluate the frequency of B. pertussis among received specimens. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was performed on 138 children under one year who were suspected to have whooping cough from October 2008 to March in 2011. Nasopharyngeal dacron and rayon swabs and sera were used for PCR and serology respectively. RESULTS: The mean age of the subjects was 1.9± 0.9 months. PCR was positive in 12 cases; ELISA was in agreement with PCR results except in one case that showed the specific antibody at borderline limit. CONCLUSION: The rate of reported positive results showed that pertussis not only is still present in the community, but the number of the asymptomatic cases who are able to transmit the disease may be considerable.