title: What to do about pertussis vaccines? Linking what we know about pertussis vaccine effectiveness, immunology and disease transmission to create a better vaccine.
abstract: Pertussis (whooping cough) is a respiratory disease caused by the bacterium Bordetella pertussis. Despite the implementation of immunization programs and high vaccine coverage in most jurisdictions, pertussis is still one of the most common vaccine-preventable diseases, suggesting that the current vaccines and immunization schedules have not been sufficiently effective. Several factors are thought to contribute to this. The acellular pertussis vaccine that has been used in many jurisdictions since the 1990s is less effective than the previously used whole-cell vaccine, with immunity waning over time. Both whole-cell and acellular pertussis vaccines are effective at reducing disease severity but not transmission, resulting in outbreaks in vaccinated cohorts. In this review, we discuss various limitations of the current approaches to protection from pertussis and outline various options for reducing the burden of pertussis on a population level.
authors.affiliation: Public Health Ontario, Toronto, Ontario, Canada Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, 155 College St., Toronto, Ontario M5T 3M7, Canada shelly.bolotin@oahpp.ca.
authors.forename: Shelly
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bolotin
authors.affiliation: Veterinary and Biomedical Science, Pennsylvania State University, 115 Henning Building, University Park, PA 16802 Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine and Singapore Centre on Environmental Life Sciences Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 50 Nanyang Avenue, Singapore 639798.
authors.forename: Eric T
authors.initials: ET
authors.lastname: Harvill
authors.affiliation: Public Health Ontario, Toronto, Ontario, Canada Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, 155 College St., Toronto, Ontario M5T 3M7, Canada Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology, University of Toronto, Medical Sciences Building, 1 Kings College Circle, # 2331, Toronto, Ontario M5S 1A8, Canada.
authors.forename: Natasha S
authors.initials: NS
authors.lastname: Crowcroft
mesh_terms: D001886:Bordetella pertussis / Q000276:immunology*; D018562:Disease Transmission, Infectious / Q000517:prevention & control*; D055808:Drug Discovery / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D010567:Pertussis Vaccine / Q000276:immunology* / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D014917:Whooping Cough / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000276:immunology / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000635:transmission*
chemical_list: D010567:Pertussis Vaccine
keywords: Pertussis; immunity; transmission; vaccine; vaccine effectiveness; whooping cough