Detection of Pertussis Infection by Pertussis PCR Among Children Admitted with Respiratory Symptoms During Respiratory Syncitial Virus (RSV) Season
PI: Trish M. Perl, MD, MSc & George Siberry, MD
Sponsor: Thrasher Research Fund

Pertussis infections, or whooping cough, continue to strike children despite high rates of vaccination. Pertussis infections tend to be more severe and dangerous for premature infants and infants with chronic medical illnesses, such as asthma and heart disease. While severe or “classic” whooping cough is usually readily diagnosed, milder cases and initial symptoms of pertussis infection can be difficult to distinguish from the “common cold” or viral respiratory tract infections. Unfortunately, infants with such mild or viral-like pertussis infections are quite contagious and can readily transmit the pertussis infection to other people. Infants and children admitted to hospital with respiratory illnesses during the fall and winter are commonly diagnosed with viral infections. Many of these infants, however, may have pertussis infections that go unrecognized, posing a significant danger of passing the pertussis infection to other hospitalized children, including many with chronic conditions who would be at high risk for severe pertussis illness.

Each fall and winter there is an epidemic of a viral infection called RSV that accounts for many infant and toddler hospitalizations. Hospitals employ special isolation procedures to prevent infants admitted with RSV infection from giving that infection to other hospitalized children. As part of this RSV control program, mucus samples are obtained from admitted children for RSV testing. We will make use to these already collected samples to test for unrecognized pertussis infections among infants and young children hospitalized during one RSV season. In this way, we will be able to estimate how frequently children are being admitted with undiagnosed/unrecognized pertussis infections. We will also compare the characteristics and symptoms of pertussis-positive children to pertussis-negative children in order to develop a better strategy to reduce the number of hospitalized children exposed to pertussis. We believe that our findings would also be applicable to developing improved pertussis control programs at other pediatric centers.