title: Potential strategies to reduce the burden of pertussis.
abstract: Pertussis continues to be a significant cause of morbidity and mortality among nonimmunized young infants. Although the inception of childhood pertussis immunization programs has significantly reduced the occurrence of the disease in children, waning vaccine-induced immunity permits the disease to affect adolescents and adults, who in turn transmit the disease to unimmunized or incompletely immunized infants. The Global Pertussis Initiative brought together experts from 17 countries around the world to evaluate strategies to improve disease control. Seven strategies were considered: (1) universal adult immunization; (2) selective immunization of mothers and close family contacts of newborns; (3) selective immunization of health care workers; (4) selective immunization of child care workers; (5) universal immunization of adolescents; (6) preschool booster at 4-6 years of age; and (7) reinforcement and/or improvement of current infant and toddler immunization strategies. Because immunization programs vary widely from country to country, no single strategy is likely to be appropriate for all. Moreover it would be helpful to have additional data to support the strategies and provide a better understanding of the disease so that new approaches can be monitored effectively. However, certain steps can be taken now to reduce the incidence of pertussis.
authors.affiliation: Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia. Kevin.Forsyth@flinders.edu.au
authors.forename: Kevin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Forsyth
authors.forename: Tina
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.forename: Carl-Heinz Wirsing
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: von König
authors.forename: J Jaime
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Caro
authors.forename: Stanley
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Plotkin
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001886:Bordetella pertussis / Q000276:immunology* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003140:Communicable Disease Control / Q000458:organization & administration*; D018562:Disease Transmission, Infectious / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D005544:Forecasting; D014943:Global Health; D006801:Humans; D017589:Immunization Programs / Q000458:organization & administration*; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D010567:Pertussis Vaccine / Q000008:administration & dosage; D011247:Pregnancy; D015397:Program Evaluation; D018570:Risk Assessment; D014611:Vaccination / Q000379:methods; D014917:Whooping Cough / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000635:transmission*
chemical_list: D010567:Pertussis Vaccine