4.5 Article

Pertussis diagnosis in Belgium: results of the National Reference Centre for Bordetella anno 2015

Journal

EPIDEMIOLOGY AND INFECTION
Volume 145, Issue 11, Pages 2366-2373

Publisher

CAMBRIDGE UNIV PRESS
DOI: 10.1017/S0950268817001108

Keywords

Bordetella pertussis

Funding

  1. Belgian Ministry of Social Affairs through a fund within Health Insurance System

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In 2015, the Belgian National Reference Centre for Bordetella analyzed 4110 respiratory samples by qPCR and 4877 serum samples by serology. Whereas about 50% of respiratory samples were from infants and children below the age of five, serum samples were distributed among all age categories. A total of 394 (9.6%) cases was diagnosed as positive for Bordetella pertussis by qPCR and 844 (17.3%) cases were diagnosed as acute infection by serology (anti-pertussis toxin (PT) IgG > 125 IU/ml). Another 1042 (21.4%) sera had anti-PT IgG between 55 and 125 IU/ml reflecting a vaccination or pertussis infection during the last 1-2 years. Seventy per cent of the pertussis cases diagnosed by qPRC were in infants and children younger than 14 years old, whereas the highest number of sera with anti-PT levels > 125 IU/ml was in the age group of 10-14 years old. Based on the limited data of the last vaccination (reported for only 15% of the samples), recent booster vaccination in the teenager group may have contributed only minimally to these elevated anti-PT levels. The highest number of sera with anti-PT titers between 55 and 125 IU/ml was found in the age category 50-59 years old. It is clear that pertussis continues to be a problem in Belgium and that other vaccination strategies (maternal vaccination, cocoon vaccination) and ultimately better vaccines will be needed to control this highly infectious respiratory disease.

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