University Children's Hospital (UKBB), PO Box, CH-4005 Basel, Switzerland.
Expert Rev Anti Infect Ther. 2010 Feb;8(2):163-73. doi: 10.1586/eri.09.124.
Pertussis (or whooping cough) is a frequent and important infectious disease of the respiratory tract, mainly caused by the Gram-negative rod bacterium Bordetella pertussis. Although it is frequently believed that pertussis is exclusively a 'childhood disease', in reality it occurs at any age but is most serious in young infants. Adults are the main reservoir for B. pertussis today and pertussis remains an endemic disease worldwide despite the availability of comprehensive immunization programs that primarily target the pediatric population. There are many reasons for these, and these include incomplete immunity following natural infection as well as immunization and waning immunity over time. Manifestations of B. pertussis infections vary by magnitude of the bacterial inoculum, age, immune status and probably further yet unidentified individual factors. They can range from asymptomatic, apnea and uncharacteristic cough to typical coughing spells with posttussive phlegm and/or vomiting, and duration also varies between a few days and several months. Since antibacterial treatment of pertussis is generally ineffective as it usually sets in too late, the main focus should be on the prevention of pertussis by immunization. This apparently requires more than immunization of children--that is, expanding routine immunization into adolescence and adulthood.
百日咳（或百日咳）是一种常见且重要的呼吸道传染病，主要由革兰氏阴性杆菌百日咳博德特氏菌引起。尽管人们普遍认为百日咳仅为“儿童病”，但实际上它可发生于任何年龄，在婴幼儿中最为严重。成人目前是 B. pertussis 的主要传染源，尽管有针对儿童人群的全面免疫规划，但百日咳在全球仍然是一种地方病。造成这种情况的原因有很多，其中包括自然感染后的不完全免疫以及随着时间的推移免疫和免疫力下降。B. pertussis 感染的表现因细菌接种量、年龄、免疫状态以及可能尚未确定的其他个体因素而异。它们可以从无症状、呼吸暂停和非特征性咳嗽到典型的咳嗽发作伴有痰后和/或呕吐，持续时间也从几天到几个月不等。由于抗菌治疗百日咳通常无效，因为它通常发生得太晚，因此主要重点应放在通过免疫接种预防百日咳。这显然需要对儿童进行免疫接种以外的措施——即扩大常规免疫接种至青少年和成年人。
