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Prevalence of pertussis antibodies in maternal delivery, cord, and infant serum

C Mary Healy1, Flor M Munoz, Marcia A Rench

  • 1Section of Infectious Diseases, Department of Pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, USA. chealy@bcm.tmc.edu

The Journal of Infectious Diseases
|June 25, 2004
PubMed

Insights

Maternal antibodies offer infant protection, but low pertussis antibody levels and rapid decay leave newborns vulnerable. This highlights the need for maternal immunization strategies against pertussis.

Area of Science:

  • Immunology
  • Pediatrics
  • Vaccinology

Background:

  • Passively acquired maternal antibodies are crucial for infant protection against pathogens.
  • Increasing pertussis (whooping cough) cases in infants necessitate evaluating antibody levels.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To assess pertussis antibody levels in maternal-infant pairs.
  • To determine the extent of placental transfer and infant antibody decay.

Main Methods:

  • Used IgG-specific ELISA to measure antibodies against pertussis toxin (PT), filamentous hemagglutinin (FHA), and fimbrial proteins (FIM).
  • Analyzed 64 maternal-umbilical cord serum pairs and 61 infant sera.
  • Calculated geometric mean concentrations (GMCs) and cord:maternal GMC ratios.

Main Results:

  • Maternal antibody GMCs at delivery were low for PT, FHA, and FIM.
  • Efficient placental transfer occurred, with cord GMCs significantly higher than maternal levels (157-178% of maternal values).
  • Infant pertussis-specific IgG decayed below detectable levels by 2 months of age.

Conclusions:

  • Despite efficient transfer, low maternal antibody levels and rapid infant decay provide insufficient protection against pertussis.
  • Supports maternal or neonatal immunization with acellular pertussis vaccines to protect infants.
  • Urgent need for strategies to prevent severe infant pertussis.
Abstract

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