Determination of circulating antibodies directed to pertussis toxin and of agglutinogens in children vaccinated with either the whole cell or component pertussis vaccine in France, Japan and Senegal.

The antibody response to pertussis toxin (PT) and agglutinogens of children vaccinated in Japan, France and Senegal with either whole cell or component pertussis vaccine was determined at various times after immunization. Agglutinin titres were almost similar in sera of Japanese children vaccinated with either whole cell or component pertussis vaccine whereas anti-PT antibody levels were found to be higher after vaccination with whole cell vaccine than with component vaccine. The geometric mean (GM) agglutinin titres in sera of Japanese children amounted to 45.0 and 45.7, respectively, and neutralization GM titres to 71.6 and 22.6, respectively, following vaccination with the whole cell and component pertussis vaccines. Sera of French children receiving three doses of whole cell vaccine exhibited a GM agglutinin titre of 17.8, whereas only 16% of sera contained neutralizing antibodies against PT. Following the booster dose the GM agglutinin titre rose to 213.5 and 68% of the sera contained neutralizing antibodies to PT (GM titre 48.0). Sera of Senegalese children receiving three doses of whole cell vaccine exhibited a GM agglutinin titre of 18.7, whereas anti-PT neutralizing antibodies were hardly detected. Agglutinins and anti-PT antibody in sera of French and Senegalese children turned out to be lower than were found 25 years ago in sera of children immunized with the French whole cell pertussis vaccine.