Seroprevalence of Bordetella pertussis Antibodies in Mothers and their Newborn Infants

Abstract

Background. Pertussis is a highly communicable, vaccine-preventable respiratory disease. Although the largest number of reported cases is among young infants, the most rapidly increasing incidence in the USA is in adolescents and young adults. Importantly, adult family members are the likely major reservoir, infecting susceptible infants before completion of childhood vaccination. We studied maternal-neonatal paired blood samples for the presence of pertussis-related antibodies to assess level of immunity and passive transplacental antibody passage.