Concentrations of Immunoglobulin G Antibodies Against Pertussis Toxin Does Not Decrease Over a Long Period of Time in Japan

Objective Adult patients with pertussis rarely show typical symptoms, such as paroxysmal coughing, inspiratory “whoop”, or post-tussive vomiting. While a culture is regarded as the gold standard for diagnosis, the sensitivity is very low. Therefore, the diagnosis of pertussis in adults in clinical practice is mostly based on single-sample serology using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) with the pertussis toxin antigen. Various cut-off values for the anti-pertussis toxin IgG (PT-IgG) have been proposed. It has been reported that concentrations of PT-IgG fall below the defined cut-off about 4.5 months after infection on average, and within 1 year in most patients. We investigated the distribution and time course of the PT-IgG levels. Methods The data were collected from the medical records. Patients The study retrospectively identified subjects who had visited Ikebukuro Otani Clinic, which is a specialized clinic for patients with cough. We retrospectively reviewed 406 patients with PT-IgG measurements to investigate the age distribution of PT-IgG levels. The changes in PT-IgG levels over time were assessed in the 205 patients who had more than one PT-IgG measurement. Results PT-IgG levels were ≥100 EU/mL in more than 15% of subjects. The PT-IgG levels of a few subjects had diminished over a long period of time. Conclusion A PT-IgG level greater than the defined cut-off value simply indicates past infection or immunization in most subjects. As such, a single measurement of PT-IgG using the cut-off values might lead to overdiagnosis of pertussis. Further data collection and analysis are required.