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. 2010 Dec;17(12):2016-23.
doi: 10.1128/CVI.00270-10. Epub 2010 Oct 6.

Seroprevalence of pertussis among Danish patients with cough of unknown etiology

Tine Dalby  1 , Zitta B Harboe, Karen Angeliki Krogfelt
Affiliations

Seroprevalence of pertussis among Danish patients with cough of unknown etiology

Tine Dalby et al. Clin Vaccine Immunol. 2010 Dec.

Abstract

The common perception that pertussis is only a childhood disease is not correct. Vaccination or infection with Bordetella pertussis provides only short-lived protection against pertussis-and the majority of the population is consequently at risk of contracting pertussis. We evaluated the seroprevalence of pertussis antibodies (IgG against pertussis toxin) in serum samples from 265 Danish patients, aged 8 years and older, with coughs of unknown etiology. Depending on the cutoff chosen, we found that 2.6% to 10.9% of these patients were seropositive for pertussis. Of 178 patients with a reported duration of cough between 2 weeks and 3 months, 3.4% to 12.4% were seropositive for pertussis, indicating recent infection. Our study indicates that B. pertussis infection may be underdiagnosed among older children and adults with coughs in Denmark.

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Figures

FIG. 1.
FIG. 1.
Reverse cumulative distributions of anti-PT IgG for 271 healthy blood donors (red) as well as for 265 patients with coughs of unknown etiology (blue). Vertical gray lines indicate six different choices of cutoff as calculated from the 271 blood donor sera or from the literature: the 95th percentile (44 IU/ml), GMT + 2SD (62 IU/ml), the 99th percentile (79 IU/ml), 100 IU/ml, GMT + 3SD (159 IU/ml), and the 99.99th percentile (186 IU/ml).
FIG. 2.
FIG. 2.
Anti-PT IgG results from 265 patients with coughs of unknown etiology. Results are plotted against the ages of the patients.
FIG. 3.
FIG. 3.
Anti-PT IgG results from 219 patients with coughs of unknown etiology who reported a date for the onset of cough less than 200 days prior to the donation of the blood sample. Results are plotted against the days of cough.
FIG. 4.
FIG. 4.
Anti-PT IgG results from 227 patients with coughs of unknown etiology who reported the severity of cough on a scale from 0 to 10. Results are plotted against severity of cough, with 0 corresponding to “No particular effect on well-being,” 5 corresponding to “Very uncomfortable, major reduction of work ability and sleep,” and 10 corresponding to “Unbearable, very painful, constant fear of suffocation.”
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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