To the etiology of whooping cough syndrome. Part I: Bacteriological examinations.

A total of 7530 cases of whooping cough syndrome was bacteriologically examined from January 1978 through June 1983. Bordetella pertussis was confirmed by cultivation in 19, B. parapertussis in 284 and H. influenzae in 285 examinees. The total percentage of bacteriologically elucidated cases was 7.81%. Routine bacteriological screenings conducted during the same time period among the preschool children from Prague 10 (a total of 3651 children of 4-6 years of age were examined after the first or before the second revaccination) gave no positive isolation of B. pertussis, isolates of B. parapertussis and H. influenzae were obtained from 43 and 107 children, respectively. This comprehensive bacteriological examination helped identify the causative agent of whooping cough syndrome and reduced thus somewhat the number of cases of uncertain etiology.