The pathogen and the disease B. pertussis is a small, fastidious Gram-negative coccobacillus with exclusive affiity for the mucosal layers of the human respiratory tract. Occasionally, other infectious agents, in particular B. parapertussis, may cause pertussis-like disease. Bordetella species may alter their phenotypic state depending upon environmental conditions, and may show different expression of virulence factors. These factors include pertussis toxin (PT), fiamentous haemagglutinin (FHA), pertactin (PRN), fibriae (FIM) type 2 and type 3, adenylate cyclase toxin
(ACT), tracheal cytotoxin (TCT), lipooligosaccharide and B. pertussis endotoxin. The pathogenesis of pertussis is incompletely understood, but FHA, PRN and FIM facilitate attachment to targeted host cells, and PT, TCT and ACT enable the bacterium to destroy the epithelial lining and evade the host’s immune system: these are important pathogenetic factors.
Over time, moderate changes have been observed in the genomic sequences of bacterial PRN and PT. So far, however, concerns based on epidemiological findings – that the effiacy of current pertussis vaccines may gradually be lost because of antigenic drift and continuous selection of the least vaccine-sensitive clones – have not been substantiated. Although a few strains have shown resistance to macrolides, there is no indication of emerging resistance to antimicrobial drugs.
Following an incubation period of 9–10 days (range, 6–20 days), patients develop catarrhal symptoms, including cough. During the course of 1–2 weeks, coughing paroxysms ending in the characteristic whoop may occur. In typical cases, cough is particularly severe at night and frequently followed by vomiting. In young infants, pertussis may cause apnoea and cyanosis without cough, whereas in adolescents and adults, uncharacteristic, persistent cough may be the only manifestation. The catarrhal, paroxysmal and convalescent stages of the disease may last for several months.
Although most cases of clinically recognizable pertussis occur in children aged 1–5 years, severe disease and death have been reported mainly during the fist weeks and months of life.9 In older children, adolescents and adults, pertussis is often unrecognized because its course is frequently atypical.
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