Incidence of pertussis in the province of Pesaro-Urbino (Italy).

Pertussis vaccination coverage in the Marche region is one of the lowest in Italy, with the province of Pesaro-Urbino remaining stable below 95% coverage since at least 2013. In this paper, we retrospectively analyzed all whooping cough notification cards arriving at the prevention department of the Area Vasta 1 Health Office in the Marche region and relating to the Pesaro-Urbino province (Italy). Between 2012 and 2017, there were 28 reported cases of pertussis with a peak in 2016 (11 cases, of which seven were in Urbino).

Report on three cases of pertussis in the Urbino area (Italy).

Pertussis is a contagious, infectious disease that affects mainly children and is caused by Bordetella pertussis. The pertussis vaccine has changed the epidemiology of the disease up to the point when it almost vanished, with a minimum number of cases recorded in Italy (2008) when vaccination coverage was 97%. For the same reason the natural history of the disease was also modified.