Malaria chemoprophylaxis and the serologic response to measles and diphtheria-tetanus-whole-cell pertussis vaccines.

Background: Acute malaria has been associated with a decreased antibody response to tetanus and diphtheria toxoids, meningococcal, salmonella, and Hib vaccines. Interest in giving malaria drug therapy and prevention at the time of childhood immunizations has increased greatly following recent trials of intermittent preventive therapy during infancy (IPTi), stimulating this re-analysis of unpublished data. The effect of malaria chemoprophylaxis on vaccine response was studied following administration of measles vaccines and diphtheria-tetanus-whole cell pertussis (DTP) vaccines.

Identification of Bordetella pertussis infection by shared-primer PCR.

A shared-primer PCR method for the detection of infection was developed by using primers derived from DNA sequences upstream of the structural genes for the porin proteins of Bordetella pertussis and Bordetella parapertussis. This method resulted in a 159-bp PCR product specific for B. pertussis and a 121-bp DNA fragment specific for B.

Cloning and sequencing of the structural gene for the porin protein of Bordetella pertussis.

Bordetella pertussis produces a porin protein which is a prominent outer membrane component found in both virulent and avirulent strains. N-terminal amino acid analysis of purified B. pertussis porin was performed and this amino acid sequence was used to design an oligonucleotide that was then utilized to screen a lambda gt11 library containing randomly sheared fragments of DNA from B.

Human serologic response to envelope-associated proteins and adenylate cyclase toxin of Bordetella pertussis.

The human serologic response to several envelope-associated proteins and adenylate cyclase toxin of Bordetella pertussis was examined using immunoblot techniques. Antigens recognized by sera from individuals with culture-confirmed pertussis and by sera from infants immunized with three doses of conventional whole-cell pertussis vaccine included a 63,000-Da protein that was shown to be antigenically related to a mycobacterial heat-shock protein. A 29,000-Da protein reacted with sera from convalescent individuals, whereas a 91,000-Da protein reacted with sera from vaccinated individuals.