Bacteriological and serological study of pertussis in Abeokuta, Nigeria

Charcoal horse blood agar is the medium of choice for isolation of Bordetella pertussis from patients with early whooping cough. Since sterile animal blood often is not available in developing countries, a field study in Nigeria was undertaken to evaluate donated human blood as supplement to charcoal agar. Out of 209 children with suspected early pertussis, 33 were culture-positive (isolation rate 16%). Out of 188 children studied serologically by enzyme immunoassay, 36 (19%) were seropositive. The satisfactory isolation rate of 16% shows that culturing for B. pertussis on charcoal human blood agar can be tried in countries, where there is no regular supply of bacteriological media with animal blood.