Development of an acellular pertussis vaccine and its administration as a booster in healthy adults

An acellular pertussis vaccine which contains highly purified pertussis toxoid (PT) and filamentous haemagglutinin (FHA) has been developed. These proteins have been shown to be stable, with essentially no significant reversion of the pertussis toxoid after a new detoxification procedure. Two clinical trials using this vaccine as a booster in 45 healthy adults have been performed. Results show that the vaccine was well tolerated, causing essentially mild, transient symptoms after administration. It induced an increase in anti-PT and anti-FHA antibody titres in all vaccinees.