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Pertussis prevalence among adult patients with acute cough
Ahmet İlbay1, Mine Dursun Tanrıöver1, Pınar Zarakol2
1Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey.
Insights
Adults with acute cough may have pertussis, a persistent health issue. This study found 3.5% prevalence, highlighting the need for strengthened lifelong vaccination strategies against Bordetella pertussis.
Area of Science:
- Infectious Diseases
- Public Health
- Epidemiology
Background:
- Bordetella pertussis infection is a growing concern in adults, often misdiagnosed.
- Adult pertussis presents challenges due to subtle or overlooked clinical features.
Purpose of the Study:
- To determine the prevalence of pertussis in adult patients presenting with acute cough.
- To identify the clinical characteristics of pertussis in adult patients.
Main Methods:
- Prospective study of 115 adult patients with cough (1 week to 1 month duration) from March 2017 to June 2018.
- Exclusion of patients on antibiotics for >5 days.
- Nasopharyngeal swabs analyzed using real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for Bordetella pertussis detection.
Main Results:
- 3.5% of the adult cohort were diagnosed with pertussis.
- 47.8% met the probable pertussis case definition.
- Pertussis cases exhibited paroxysmal cough, averaging 20 days in duration.
Conclusions:
- Pertussis remains a significant adult health problem, often presenting as acute cough.
- Current childhood vaccination may be insufficient, necessitating stronger lifelong pertussis vaccination recommendations.
Background:
Bordetella pertussis infection remains an important health problem in adults due to the increasing prevalence in recent years. Pertussis in adults can be easily overlooked or misdiagnosed. We aimed to determine the prevalence of pertussis in adult patients with acute cough and the clinical features of the pertussis cases.
Methods:
Internal Medicine and Pulmonology inpatient wards and outpatient clinics were screened between March 2017 and June 2018. Patients with cough duration between 1 week and 1 month were enrolled. Those who were on antibiotics for more than 5 days were excluded. A total of 115 patients were enrolled. Nasopharyngeal swabs were taken and real-time polymerase chain reaction analyses were done.
Results:
According to the pertussis case definition, 47.8% of the patients were diagnosed with probable pertussis. We found the prevalence of pertussis as 3.5% in our cohort. All of the patients with pertussis had a history of paroxysmal cough with a mean duration of 20 days.
Discussion:
These results show that pertussis continues to be a health problem for adults and may present with acute cough. The growing number of adult pertussis cases suggest that vaccination of children is inadequate to prevent pertussis and the concept of 'lifelong vaccination' should be strengthened.
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