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Persistent Cough In Adults May Be Due To Pertussis

A DGReview of :"Evidence of Bordetella pertussis Infection in Adults Presenting with Persistent Cough in a French Area with Very High Whole-Cell Vaccine Coverage"
Journal of Infectious Diseases

08/26/2002
By Veronica Rose
 

Whooping cough should be considered when adult patients present with a persistent, yet undiagnosed cough, according to a study by French clinicians.

This suggestion is based on increasing incidences of parent -infant transmission of the infection over the past 12 years despite a pertussis vaccination program that has existed for more than 40 years.

Dr Serge Gilberg from the Faculté de Médecine Necker-Enfant Malades and colleagues from other specialist units in Paris, France, assessed the frequency of pertussis in 217 patients who had consulted their general practitioners regarding a persistent cough. A total of 70 (32 percent) were confirmed as having whooping cough.

Among the 70 patients, one had a positive culture and there was a positive polymerase chain reaction in 36. Forty patients displayed increases or decreases greater than two-fold in anti-pertussis toxin immunoglobulin G (IgG) titre between serum samples, collected during the acute and convalescent periods.

Researchers established that patients with confirmed pertussis had had the cough over a median duration of 49 days, ranging from 13 to 123 days. Furthermore, 60 percent of the patients with confirmed infection had been vaccinated and 33 percent had whooping cough in infancy.

Researchers suggest that, in the interest of public health, future studies should undertake evaluation relative to booster doses of pertussis vaccine in adults.

Journal of Infectious Diseases 2002 Vol 186 pp415-418 "Evidence of Bordetella pertussis Infection in Adults Presenting with Persistent Cough in a French Area with Very High Whole-Cell Vaccine Coverage"

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