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Bordetella pertussis infection attenuates clinical course of acute bronchiolitis

Bahaa Abu Raya1, Ellen Bamberger, Imad Kassis

  • 1Department of Pediatrics, Bnai Zion Medical Center, Haifa, Israel. baha_aboraya@yahoo.com

The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal
|February 23, 2013
PubMed

Insights

Bordetella pertussis (BP) was detected in hospitalized children with acute bronchiolitis, often as a co-infection. Children with BP showed less severe illness upon admission and during their hospital stay compared to those without BP.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Infectious Diseases
  • Respiratory Medicine
  • Microbiology

Background:

  • Bordetella pertussis (BP) is a pathogen causing lower respiratory tract infections in children.
  • Acute bronchiolitis is a common respiratory illness in infants and young children.
  • The role of BP as a co-pathogen in acute bronchiolitis and its impact on disease severity is not fully understood.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the clinical characteristics of Bordetella pertussis (BP) infection in hospitalized children with acute bronchiolitis.
  • To evaluate the effect of BP co-infection on the severity of acute bronchiolitis in young children.

Main Methods:

  • A case-control study was conducted involving previously healthy children aged ≤2 years hospitalized with acute bronchiolitis.
  • Patients were tested for BP and 10 other common respiratory pathogens.
  • Cases (BP detected) were matched 1:4 with controls (BP not detected) and compared for clinical parameters and severity scores.

Main Results:

  • BP was detected in 7.7% of hospitalized children with acute bronchiolitis, frequently as a co-infection (e.g., with RSV).
  • Children with BP had fewer feeding problems before admission (30.5% vs 53.1%).
  • BP-infected children presented with lower clinical severity scores on admission (13% vs 41.6%) and during hospitalization (mean score 5.3 vs 5.8).

Conclusions:

  • Bordetella pertussis is identified as a co-pathogen in a subset of young children hospitalized with acute bronchiolitis.
  • BP co-infection is associated with reduced disease severity in children with acute bronchiolitis.
  • These findings suggest that identifying BP may be important for managing acute bronchiolitis severity in pediatric patients.
Abstract

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