Although a vaccine against Bordetella pertussis, the bacteria responsible for the development of whooping cough, was initially introduced in the late 1940s, recent outbreaks, including one in Minnesota in 2014, suggest that the vaccine may be ineffective against certain less common strains of the virus.
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."