Journal article
Increased population prevalence of low pertussis toxin antibody levels in young children preceding a record pertussis epidemic in Australia
P Campbell, P McIntyre, H Quinn, L Hueston, GL Gilbert, J McVernon
Plos One | Published : 2012
Open access
Abstract
Background: Cross-sectional serosurveys using IgG antibody to pertussis toxin (IgG-PT) are increasingly being used to estimate trends in recent infection independent of reporting biases. Methods/Principal Findings: We compared the age-specific seroprevalence of various levels of IgG-PT in cross-sectional surveys using systematic collections of residual sera from Australian diagnostic laboratories in 1997/8, 2002 and 2007 with reference to both changes in the pertussis vaccine schedule and the epidemic cycle, as measured by disease notifications. A progressive decline in high-level (≥62.5 EU/ml) IgG-PT prevalence from 19% (95% CI 16-22%) in 1997/98 to 12% (95% CI 11-14%) in 2002 and 5% (95% C..
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Funding Acknowledgements
Serosurveys conducted by the Centre for Infectious Diseases and Microbiology - Public Health (CIDM) are funded by the National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance of Vaccine Preventable Diseases (NCIRS) as a core surveillance activity. GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) provided antigen for the assay, however, all testing and analysis was conducted at CIDM and NCIRS. JMcV is supported by a National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia Career Development Award. PC is supported by an Australian Postgraduate Award. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.