Surveillance of Circulating Bordetella pertussis Strains in Europe during 1998 to 2015

Abstract

One reason for increased pertussis incidence is the adaptation of to vaccine-induced immunity by modulating its genomic structure. This study, EUpert IV, includes 265 isolates collected from nine European countries during 2012 to 2015 ( = 265) and compares the results to previous EUpert I to III studies (1998 to 2009). The analyses included genotyping, serotyping, pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE), and multilocus variable-number tandem-repeat analysis (MLVA). Genotyping results showed only small variations among the common virulence genes of The frequencies of serotypes Fim2 and Fim3 varied among the four collections. Genomic analyses showed that MLVA type 27 increased to 80% between the periods of 1998 to 2001 and 2012 to 2015. Two PFGE profiles, BpSR3 (29.4%) and BpSR10 (27.2%), constituted more than 50% of the circulating isolates in the present collection. Our study indicates that the European population is changing and became more homogenous after the introduction of acellular pertussis vaccines.

Genomic epidemiology of Iranian Bordetella pertussis : 50 years after the implementation of whole cell vaccine

“…Typing of ACV antigen genes, ptxP , ptxA , prn , fim2 and fim3 among the 55 selected isolates from 2008 to 2016 revealed that ptxP3/ptxA1/fim2-1 isolates were predominant (51/55, 92.7%). Out of the 51 ptxP3 isolates, 50 isolates carried fim3-2 (also denoted as fim3B ) allele and only one had fim3- 1 (also denoted as fim3A ) [25,26]. Isolates with the allele profile ptxP3/ptxA1/prn2/fim3- 1 were predominant among ptxP3 isolates (42/51, 82.3%).…”

“…A prominent feature of B. pertussis evolution in ACV immunised host populations is the emergence and expansion of pertactin deficient strains [4]. Prn deficient strains were first reported in France, and now in many countries including UK, Canada, US and Australia [25,26,51–53]. Australia and US reported the highest percentages of Prn deficient isolates with 89.7% of the isolates from 2013 to 2017 in Australia and >85% in 2013 in the US [26,54].…”

High prevalence of currently circulating Bordetella pertussis isolates not producing vaccine antigen pertactin in Slovenia

“…During the WCV era, one PRN-deficient strain was found in Italy in the mid-1990s [4]. A recent study also shows a similar increase in many European countries using ACVs [2]. Interestingly, a decrease in frequency of PRN-deficient strains was reported in Japan, where the proportion of ACVs without PRN in use was increased in 2012 [5].…”

“…PRN-deficient isolates were further studied by sequencing of the prn gene. Genotyping of prn, ptxP and ptxA genes of all isolates was performed as previously described [2].…”

“…Almost all isolates (26/27) had different allele of ptxA (ptxA1), ptxP (ptxP3) and prn (prn 2) compared to B. pertussis strains, which are used for production of ACVs (ptxA2 or ptxA4, ptxP1 and prn 1 or prn 7, respectively) [2].…”