Parapertussis and pertussis: Differences and similarities in incidence, clinical course, and antibody responses

Abstract

Disease caused by Bordetella parapertussis is diagnosed less commonly and is milder and of shorter duration than disease caused by Bordetella pertussis. Parapertussis induced serum IgG against filamentous hemagglutinin and pertactin of similar magnitude as does pertussis, and did not induce serum IgG against pertussis toxin.

Acellular pertussis vaccination facilitatesBordetella parapertussisinfection in a rodent model of bordetellosis

“…The dynamics of B. pertussis and B. parapertussis infection in rodent hosts shares many similarities with human infection, but like all experimental models, differs from the human situation in a number of key ways (Elahi et al 2007). However, the relative efficacies of pertussis vaccines in the rodent model correspond to those obtained in clinical trials (Mills et al 1998;Guiso et al 1999), and we note that epidemiological evidence in human whooping cough infections is consistent with an enhancement effect for B. parapertussis (Bergfors et al 1999;Liese et al 2003). Directly proving aP vaccination puts treated people at risk of acquiring B. parapertussis is very difficult, but we hope our study highlights the need for more thorough B. parapertussis epidemiological data and encourages further work in this neglected area.…”

“…Some aP vaccine efficacy studies report a significantly higher proportion of B. parapertussis relative to B. pertussis in aP-vaccinated compared with unvaccinated individuals (Bergfors et al 1999;Liese et al 2003). These data are consistent with the hypothesis that B. parapertussis gains a selective advantage under aP vaccination.…”

Immunization against Pertussis: An Almost Solved Problem or a Headache in Public Health

“…The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates the annual incidence of 16 million cases of pertussis, with 195,000 deaths per year, one of the main causes of mortality for vaccinepreventable diseases in children less than ive years [2,3]. The main causative agent is the Gram-negative bacterium Bordetella pertussis, but although Bordetella parapertussis HU leads to a milder disease [4,5], it has also been associated with more severe episodes, such as pneumonia and bronchopneumonia in children, with possible lethal consequences [6,7]. The disease is exclusively human, with characteristics that diferentiate it from other respiratory diseases [8,9] and was widely disseminated in pre-vaccine era, mainly afecting children from 1 to 9 years of age.…”

“…There is evidence that B. pertussis and B. parapertussis HU were adapted to restricted niches of hosts, which possibly allowed a more efective infection [11][12][13][14]. Pertussis toxin (PT), considered the main virulence factor of B. pertussis, is not produced by B. parapertussis, where the PT gene is transcriptionally silent [5,15], which could be a reason for the frequently milder symptoms following infection by B. parapertussis [4,5,16,17].…”

Caracterización de la infección por Bordetella pertussis, Bordetella spp. y coqueluche en la provincia de Córdoba, Argentina

“…Clínicamente evoluciona en dos fases: catarral y paroxística 1,2,6 . La bacteria Bordetella pertussis, su principal agente etiológico, es una de las diez especies del género Bordetella [2][3][4]12 y hay otras especies que también infectan al ser humano: Bordetella parapertussis, Bordetella bronchiseptica, Bordetella holmesii y Bordetella hinzii 2,12,13 . Bordetella pertussis, posee múltiples factores de virulencia responsables de la clínica de la enfermedad, siendo la toxina pertussis (TP) exclusiva para esta especie 1,8 .…”