Data presented at the St. Jude/PIDS Pediatric Infectious Diseases Research Conference reveals that infants younger than 3 months old showed the highest morbidity and mortality from Bordetella pertussis infections.
Twenty-eight percent of infants with pertussis-like symptoms were later confirmed to have pertussis, with PCR-positive culture identifying 23.5% of infants, PCR plus culture identifying 3%, as well as 1 case that was culture-positive but PCR-negative.
The researchers observed a mortality rate of 36.8% among infants, with infants aged younger than 3 months demonstrating a higher frequency of infection and higher mortality rates than those aged older than 3 months.
