Discrimination of Bordetella parapertussis and Bordetella pertussis organisms from clinical isolates by PCR using biotin-labelled oligonucleotide probes.

A recently developed shared-primer polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was investigated, in an ongoing pertussis surveillance study for discrimination of Bordetella parapertussis and Bordetella pertussis organisms, by using specific biotin-labelled oligonucleotide probes. From a total of 132 samples, 83 were positive by the B. parapertussis specific probe, 33 were positive by the B. pertussis specific probe and 16 samples containing Hemophilus influenzae as a negative control were below threshold by both probes. The shared-primer PCR in combination with specific oligonucleotide probes provides a rapid, sensitive and specific molecular diagnostic tool for future surveillance studies. In addition, it may be used to further investigate whether B parapertussis antigens should be added to acellular pertussis vaccines to protect against B. parapertussis infections.