The disease and Panbio product training

Pertussis

Overview• Acute highly contagious bacterial infection.• “100 Day” cough, has persisted for up to 3 months.• Was thought to be a disease of children with high

mortality - incidence in adults has increased significantly.

• ELISA serology represents a sensitive and specific method for diagnosis.

Infectious agent• Three species of Bordetellae - pertussis, parapertussis

& bronchisptica.• Pertussis causes 95% of whooping cough.• Small gram negative coccobacilli.• Pertussis is only found in humans.

Clinical notes• Three phases• Catarrhal (1-2 weeks) - Irritating cough, non-specific

symptoms, except in the case of an epidemic pertussis is not usually diagnosed.

• Paroxysmal (1-6 weeks) - Severe coughing bouts provoking convulsions and other symptoms. Characteristic whoop seen.

• Convalescent (up to 10 weeks) - Reduced paroxysms, persistent cough may last for months, secondary bacterial complications.

• Complications• Encephalopathy, brain damage, pneumonia,

bronchiectasis & rupture of small & large blood vessels.

Antibody response • IgM and IgA appear during the first three weeks of

infection and disappear in most cases within six months.

• IgA antibodies usually persist longer than IgM.• IgA antibodies present only as a result of infection.

Diagnosis• Culture• Organism is difficult to culture.• Samples must be taken early in infection (catarrhal).• IFA• Poor sensitivity• False positives• Agglutination• Poor sensitivity & specificity• Requires paired sera• Cannot distinguish vaccination from infection

ELISA• Sensitive & specific.• Antibodies of different immunoglobulin classes can be

determined.• Antibodies appear in both acute and convalescent

phases.• Easy to use.

Product positioning• Vaccination is not 100% effective.• After 7 years protection becomes minimal.• Real value of ELISA is in surveillance and

epidemiology.• Identifying disease in adults is impossible without

ELISA serology.

Product positioning cont...• Effective ELISA serology will indicate when an

outbreak is occurring.• In Australia Pertussis is a notifiable disease.• IgA is the kit which is most commonly used.

Panbio B. pertussis ELISA kits• Bordetella Pertussis IgG Cat# E-BPB01G• Bordetella Pertussis IgM Cat# E-BPB01M• Bordetella Pertussis IgA Cat# E-BPB01A

Promotional resources• Clinical sheet• Colour brochure• General Publications