Bordetella parapertussis infection in children: epidemiology, clinical symptoms, and molecular characteristics of isolates.

The clinical trial conducted in Italy to evaluate the efficacy of acellular pertussis vaccines provided an opportunity to estimate the frequency of clinical infections with Bordetella parapertussis and to compare the clinical characteristics of children suffering from Bordetella pertussis illness with those of children with B. parapertussis illness. This study dealt with 76 B.

Molecular characterization of two Bordetella bronchiseptica strains isolated from children with coughs.

During a surveillance program associated with the Italian clinical trial for the evaluation of new acellular pertussis vaccines, two bacterial isolates were obtained in cultures of samples from immunocompetent infants who had episodes of cough. Both clinical isolates were identified as Bordetella bronchiseptica by biochemical criteria, although both strains agglutinated with antisera specific for Bordetella parapertussis, suggesting that the strains exhibited some characteristics of both B. bronchiseptica and B.

Bordetella parapertussis infections.

The rate of isolation of Bordetella parapertussis among children with cough during the follow-up of different clinical efficacy studies has been evaluated. In the Italian trial, a comparison of clinical characteristics between B. pertussis and B.

Polymerase chain reaction for the identification of Bordetella pertussis and Bordetella parapertussis.

The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for the detection of Bordetella pertussis and Bordetella parapertussis DNA in clinical samples was well documented by recent studies. Different regions in Bordetella pertussis DNA have been successfully used as targets for this method by various authors. In this work we report the usefulness of the PCR assay also for speciating Bordetellae isolates in those cases where the biochemical and serological tests gave inconclusive results.

Polymerase chain reaction for the detection of Bordetella pertussis in clinical nasopharyngeal aspirates.

A PCR procedure for the detection of Bordetella pertussis in nasopharyngeal aspirates (NPAs) was developed with primers derived from the pertussis toxin promoter region. The amplification resulted in a 191-bp PCR product specific for B. pertussis.

Purification and characterization of an immunodominant 36 kDa antigen present on the cell surface of Clostridium difficile.

The 36 kDa antigen represents the major EDTA-extracted protein of Clostridium difficile strains belonging to electrophoretic group 2. Antibodies to this antigen are found in sera of patients with C. difficile-associated diarrhoea.