Clin Infect Dis. 2016 Dec 1;63(suppl 4):S142-S147.

Morbidity and Mortality Due to Bordetella pertussis: A Significant Pathogen in West Africa?

Kampmann B^1,2, Mackenzie G^1,3,4.

• ¹Medical Research Council Unit The Gambia, Fajara, The Gambia, West Africa, Banjul.
• ²Centre for International Child Health, Imperial College London.
• ³London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, Keppel Street, United Kingdom.
• ⁴Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, Melbourne, Australia.

Abstract below; full text is at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5106627/

In the absence of specific surveillance platforms for pertussis and availability of suitable diagnostics at the hospital level, reliable data that describe morbidity and mortality from pertussis are difficult to obtain in any setting, as is the case in West Africa. Here, we summarize the available evidence of the burden of pertussis in the region, given historical data, and describe recent and ongoing epidemiological studies that offer opportunities for additional data collection. The available seroepidemiological data provide evidence of ongoing circulation of Bordetella pertussis in the region. Due to the lack of systematic and targeted surveillance with laboratory confirmation of B. pertussis infection, we cannot definitively conclude that pertussis disease is well controlled in West Africa. However, based on observations by clinicians and ongoing demographic surveillance systems that capture morbidity and mortality data in general terms, currently there is no evidence that pertussis causes a significant burden of disease in young children in West Africa.

© The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press for the Infectious Diseases Society of America.

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