Sero epidemiology of Bordetella pertussis immune responses in a healthy population in northern Greece

✍ Scribed by A. Polyzou; S. Pournaras; U. Dafni; D. Sofianou; E. Christeli; S. Patrinos; A. Tsakris

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2004
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 91 KB
• Volume: 18
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0887-8013
• DOI: 10.1002/jcla.20025

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

A seroepidemiological study was conducted on a representative sample of the northern Greek population (healthy individuals, age range=1 day to 80 years) to assess the prevalence of antibodies to pertussis toxin (PT) and filamentous hemagglutinin (FHA). Antibody concentrations were significantly elevated with age (analysis of variance (ANOVA), P<0.001). In addition, a significant increase in antibody levels was detected in subjects >50 years old compared to children aged 5–10 years (post‐hoc Scheffe analysis, P=0.007). These data suggest that pertussis occurs frequently in Greek adults, and that sometimes a fifth booster vaccine dose is not given after the second year of life. Routine revaccination with the acellular vaccine for children >4 years of age, adolescents, and adults should be considered in order to ensure effective protection of the whole population. J. Clin. Lab. Anal. 18:211–214, 2004. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.