Bordetella pertussis and pertussis vaccines.
Bordetella pertussis is a human-specific pathogen that causes whooping cough. The use of pertussis whole-cell vaccines in infants and toddlers led to decreased circulation of the bacterium in the child population and a marked decrease in the incidence of the disease. However, vaccine does not result in life-long immunity; indeed, the circulation of the bacterium has not been controlled in the adult population. Universal adult booster immunization is now possible using pertussis acellular vaccines, which target-and are thus likely to control-the virulence of this bacterium.
Institut Pasteur, Molecular Prevention and Therapy of Human Diseases, Paris, France. nicole.guiso@pasteur.fr
Nicole
N
Guiso
D006801:Humans; D007117:Immunization, Secondary / Q000379:methods; D015994:Incidence; D010567:Pertussis Vaccine / Q000276:immunology*; D014611:Vaccination / Q000379:methods; D014917:Whooping Cough / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control*
D010567:Pertussis Vaccine