By: Jackie Taylor MPH 500: Foundations in Public Health October 2013

 Discuss the bacterium Bordetella pertussis  Topics that will be discussed will include: ◦ - Epidemiology ◦ - Biostatistics ◦ - Biomedical ◦ - Environmental factors ◦ - Disease distribution

 Pertussis is a small gram- negative aerobic coccobacillus bacteria that is responsible for causing whooping cough  This bacterium either presents singularly or in pairs. B. pertussis colonizes in the cilia of the respiratory tract and grows in this warm rich medium. (The microbial world, 2005).

 This antigen only affects humans and cannot jump from species to species.  In 1906 Bordet and Gengou officially isolated this bacterium and started the growth in a laboratory.  This was the beginning process for the vaccine to be made.

 Once the bacterium finds its way to the cilia in the respiratory tract it begins to colonize.  Once enough bacterium is present the human host starts to show signs of infection by exhibiting fever, malaise, and coughing.  This first stage becomes progressively worse for about ten days, this is when B.pertussis if found will respond to antibiotics and resolve fairly quickly.

 Pertussis is an extremely contagious disease that is growing in numbers annually. This respiratory disease is spread by direct contact or picking up phomites, and then touching a mucus membrane such as your mouth or eyes.  When an infected person sneezes or coughs this is how the bacterium is expelled.

 Once exposed the incubation period can be anywhere from seven to twenty-one days (WHO, 2013).  The beginning of the illness is when the individual is most contagious, If being treated after five days of antibiotics they are no longer considered contagious.  According to the World Health Organization back in ,000 children died worldwide as a result from pertussis

 Babies may bleed behind the eyes and in the brain from coughing.  The most common complication is bacterial pneumonia. About 1 child in 10 with pertussis also gets pneumonia, and about 1 in every 50 will have convulsions.  Brain damage occurs in 1 out of every 250 children who get pertussis.  (CDC, 2013)

 One social aspect of disease is socioeconomic status. The lower socioeconomic tend to have more health disparities.  What is interesting regarding Pertussis is that many times an outbreak of this disease is with high socioeconomic status.  This trend is due to many reasons such as fear of vaccines, current fad, or belief that they have educated themselves with proper information regarding why not to vaccinate.

 The first pertussis vaccine was invented by Dr. Louis W. Sauer in the 1920’s. Being so long ago one would think this vaccine preventable disease would have been eliminated, but this is far from reality.  Vaccines are not a guarantee but they can significantly reduce the disease process if one does contract the bacterium.

 Every year more and more pertussis cases are showing up in our local neighborhoods, not just some far off country.  In today’s society there are many groups that support not vaccinating children for many different radical reasons.

The Public Health system needs to step in and start a more aggressive pertussis education campaign. If this is just left as it stands now, with the current trends in the next five to ten years our nation could be seeing a much broader epidemic.

 Buncombe County Health Department. Accessed at: nRates.pdf  Center for disease control: surveillance manual. Accessed at: pertussis.html  Center for Disease Control. Retrieved September 15, 2013 at:  discovered.html Author: Kathryn Senior PhD - Updated: 18 November 2012  Immunize web page. Retrieved at:  Jaslow.R., California pertussis outbreak. Accessed at: calif-whooping-cough-outbreak-linked-to-vaccine-averse- parents/

 Matteo.S., & Cherrry. J. (2005) Molecular Pathogenesis, Epidemiology, and Clinical Manifestations of Respiratory Infections Due to Bordetella pertussis and Other Bordetella Subspecies.Accessed at:  Preziosi, M., & Halloran, M. (2003). Effects of Pertussis Vaccination on Disease: Vaccine Efficacy in Reducing Clinical Severity. Clinical Infectious Diseases, 37(6), 772.  Todar, K. (2005) Pertussis (Whooping cough). Accessed at: tml  World Health Organization. Retrieved September 14, 2013 at: ml  Schneider, M.J. (2014). Introduction to Public Health. Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlet Learning.