- NEW DELHI — Vaccinating pregnant women against whooping cough can boost the
quantity and quality of antibodies in the early life of infants, according to a
study.
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- Whooping cough, also known as pertussis, is a highly
contagious respiratory infection characterised by severe coughing spells that
can end in a high-pitched "whoop" when inhaling. It is caused by the
bacteria Bordetella pertussis.
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- Despite extensive vaccinations, the disease has resurged.
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that there are 16 million cases
annually and approximately 195,000 deaths in children globally.
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- Researchers at the University of Turku in Finland
conducted a randomised, controlled, double-blind, phase 4 trial in Gambia to
evaluate the effect of pertussis immunisation in pregnancy.
Read: Early detection, proper management key for babies born with kidney defect: Experts
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- Two types of pertussis vaccines are currently used
worldwide: whole-cell vaccines (wPVs) based on killed whole bacteria and
acellular vaccines (aPVs) based on one to five purified bacterial antigens.
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- The findings, published in The Lancet Infectious
Diseases, demonstrated that vaccinating women with diphtheria-tetanus-acellular
pertussis vaccines in pregnancy was safe and well tolerated and boosted the
quantity and quality of pertussis-specific antibodies in infants in early life.
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- Since the highest incidence and mortality of pertussis
occur in infants, especially those too young to be vaccinated, immunisation in
pregnancy (IP) is recommended to protect infants in early life against
pertussis.
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- However, studies have shown that IP can decrease the
antibody responses of infants to their primary diphtheria-tetanus-acellular
pertussis (DTaP) vaccination. This phenomenon is called "blunting."
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