The Turkish Journal of Pediatrics 2014 , Vol 56 , Num 6
Pertussis in Children in the İstanbul Faculty of Medicine: Results for Four Years
1Department of Medical Microbiology and 2Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, Department of Pediatrics, Istanbul Faculty of Medicine, Istanbul, Turkey. E-mail: loksuz34@yahoo.com We investigated the frequency of pertussis among children in the İstanbul Faculty of Medicine Hospital during a period of four years. Clinical specimens were obtained from children who exhibited symptoms of whooping cough; a portion of the cases were confirmed microbiologically by PCR as pertussis. A total of 410 nasopharyngeal aspirates were taken for detection of Bordetella pertussis/parapertussis. The age groups of the patients were 0-4 months (n=201), >4 -12 months (n=49), 1-4 years (n=79), 5-9 years (n=46), 10-14 years (n=27) and >15 years (n=8). 106 (26%) of all samples were positive for B. pertussis/parapertussis by the PCR method. The Bordetella PCR positivity rates were 36% in 2010, 29% in 2011, 15% in 2012 and 15% in 2013. Due to administration of the DTaP-IPV vaccination at seven years of age starting in 2010, pertussis was not detected in the 5–9 age group after that year. According to this result, the five doses of pertussis vaccination administered as the national vaccine scheme are effective in protecting against the infection. A booster dose for adolescents at 14 years of age as well as a cocoon strategy might also be considered in our country. Keywords : pertussis, PCR, Turkey.
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