Öksürüklü Hastalık Nedeniyle Hastaneye Başvuran Erişkin Hastalarda Boğmaca Prevalansının Saptanması

Abstract

Whooping cough is a very contagious and easily overlooked disease that continues to persist despite high childhood vaccination rates. Although Bordetella pertussis infection is seen in all age groups, it remains an important health problem in adults due to the increased prevalance in recent years. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR), a highly sensitive and specific test for detection of B. pertussis, is the leading test to identify possible cases of pertussis. We performed this study in order to determine the prevalence of whooping cough in adult patients with acute cough seen in our hospital and to determine the clinical features, course and outcome of the whooping cough detected among those hospitalized patients. Between March 1 and October 20, 2017, a total of 77 patients with cough between one week and one month were enrolled. Bordetella pertussis PCR positivity was detected in two patients. We found the prevalence of pertussis as 2,6% in our cohort. Duration of cough was 14 days or longer in 66,3% of patients. When the total duration of the cough was examined, 61% of the patients were diagnosed with probable pertussis case. Patients without any health problem other than acute cough, admitted to the hospital about 6 days later than those who had an additional disease. These results show that whooping cough continues to be a health problem for adults and that the diagnosis of probable pertussis cases need to be confirmed rapidly. The growing number of adult pertussis cases and the fact that adults are the most important transmission source of pertussis for unprotected babies suggest that vaccination of only children is inadequate to prevent pertussis and the concept of ‘lifelong vaccination’ should be strengthened.