Pertussis

Pertussis (whooping cough) is the most frequent vaccine-preventable disease in children less than 5 years old in industrialized countries and has become much more prevalent over the time since the acellular pertussis vaccine replaced the whole cell biologic. The infection has increased in different age groups and all of these groups can impact on the frequency of disease in infants. It is this group that contributes most of the significant morbidity and mortality of pertussis. The microbiological, clinical, diagnostic, therapeutic, and preventive aspects of Bordetella pertussis infection in man are reviewed and the reasons for this increase in cases including vaccine and pathogen issues are examined.