High prevalence of Bordetella pertussis in young hospitalized infants with acute respiratory infection in the south of China: age- and season-dependent effects

With great interest we have read the report of Zhang et al. concerning the increased susceptibility to pertussis in Chinese adults at childbearing age, as determined in a comparative seroprevalence study using samples collected from 2010 to 2016.1 The authors describe that about 5% of the individuals had PT-IgG antibodies, which is indicative of a recent infection. In the adults 20 –39 years of age, 29.1% subjects had undetectable PT-IgG antibodies in 2010 but 57.4% in 2015/2016. It is well known that adolescents and adults have become the reservoir of pertussis and an important source of transmission to vulnerable infants.
Source: Journal of Infection - Category: Infectious Diseases Authors: Source Type: research