Assessment of IgA anti-PT and IgG anti-ACT reflex testing to improve Bordetella pertussis serodiagnosis in recently vaccinated subjects.

Objectives: Quantifying IgG antibodies to pertussis toxin (PT) is the most specific and sensitive method for the serodiagnosis of a Bordetella pertussis infection. Since PT is a component of acellular pertussis vaccines, anti-PT IgG is also induced by vaccination, precluding pertussis serodiagnosis based exclusively on anti-PT IgG in recently vaccinated subjects. Here, we aim to identify additional B.

Pertussis diagnosis in Belgium: results of the National Reference Centre for Bordetella anno 2015.

In 2015, the Belgian National Reference Centre for Bordetella analyzed 4110 respiratory samples by qPCR and 4877 serum samples by serology. Whereas about 50% of respiratory samples were from infants and children below the age of five, serum samples were distributed among all age categories. A total of 394 (9·6%) cases was diagnosed as positive for Bordetella pertussis by qPCR and 844 (17·3%) cases were diagnosed as acute infection by serology (anti-pertussis toxin (PT) IgG > 125 IU/ml).

Bordetella pertussis seroprevalence in Belgian adults aged 20-39 years, 2012.

SUMMARY The last report on pertussis seroprevalence in Belgium concerned samples collected during 1993-1994. In the context of the Eupert-Labnet WP6 seroprevalence study (comparing sera from 16 European member states), 1500 anonymized leftover diagnostic samples were collected randomly during the second semester of 2012 by the clinical chemistry laboratories of six participating Belgian centres, distributed equally between Flanders, Wallonia and Brussels Capital Region. As suggested by the WP6 organizers, a total of 750 samples (125/centre) were selected from subjects in the 20-29 years age group and 750 samples (125/centre) from subjects in the 30-39 years age group.

[Hooping cough in adults, think about it!].

We report the case of a 47 year old patient who had been suffering from persistent cough for more than three weeks. Patient coughed predominantly during night time, without fever. The amoxicillin-clavulanic acid initially prescribed was not effective.

Pertussis serodiagnosis in Belgium from 1990 to 2009.

Diagnosis of pertussis by culture and PCR is most sensitive when performed on nasopharyngeal specimens collected <2 weeks and <3 weeks, respectively, after the onset of clinical disease. Conversely, serological testing allows the diagnosis of patients (mostly adults) with less typical whooping cough symptoms, for whom clinical samples are often collected at later time points. Here, we report on a 20-year serodiagnostic survey of pertussis in Belgium from 1990 to 2009.