While incidents of the infection are low in the U.S. compared to developing countries, whooping cough has been on the rise for the past 25 years. Many of the children involved in the Southeastern Minnesota outbreak between October and December 2014 were up to date with their pertussis vaccines, according to research presented at The American Society for Microbiology’s 55th Interscience Conference of Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy.
“This leads us to believe that the vaccine is not protecting children from the lesser-known species, Bordetella parapertussis,” Vytas P. Karalius, Mayo Clinic researcher and lead study author, said in a statement. “Our finding is consistent with other research previous to ours. The pertussis vaccine and its efficacy have been under recent scrutiny; it may be beneficial to consider targeting Bordetella parapertussis in the development of future vaccines.”
More articles on infection control:
FDA issues infection warning against another type of medical scope
Health professionals on mixed reaction to GOP’s debate on vaccines, autism
IOM report outlines 8 goals to improve diagnoses, reduce errors
