Clinical characteristics of pediatric pertussis cases, Quebec 2015-2017

The introduction of the acellular pertussis vaccine may have changed the epidemiological and clinical features of pertussis in Canadian children.

To describe the demographics, clinical presentation and outcomes of children and adolescents with pertussis presenting to a tertiary care hospital.

Retrospective cohort of consecutive patients evaluated at the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Sainte-Justine (CHUSJ) and tested with a bacterial multiplex real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for Bordetella pertussis or B. parapertussis between June 2015 and March 2017. Demographics, clinical presentations and outcomes were described for positive test results. The Modified Preziosi Scale was used to assess disease severity; severe disease was defined as a score ≥7.

The age distribution of the 144 positive patients with a clinical encounter at CHUSJ was as follows: less than three months (n=25/144, 17.4%), four months to nine years (n=63/144, 43.8%) and 10 to 18 years (n=56/144, 38.9%). The most common symptoms at presentation were paroxysmal cough (70.1%), post-tussive emesis (47.2%) and coryza (33.3%). Over 84.0% of cases in infants less than three months of age had severe pertussis (92.0% required hospitalization and 28.0% intensive care admission). In children four months to nine years of age, 22.2% had severe pertussis and 11.1% required hospitalization. Only two (3.6%) children greater than 10 years had severe disease.

Pertussis still affects children of all ages in Quebec. In older children, it tends to be a milder disease. When it affects infants, who do not yet have full protection from pertussis vaccination, it often causes severe disease, especially in those less than three months of age. This evidence further supports the implementation of a pertussis vaccination program in pregnant women.