Difco™ Bordetella Pertussis Antiserum and Difco Bordetella Parapertussis Antiserum are recommended for use in slide agglutination tests for the identification of Bordetella pertussis and Bordetella parapertussis.

Difco Bordetella Pertussis Antigen is used to demonstrate a positive quality control test in the slide agglutination test.

B. pertussis and B. parapertussis are two species of Bordetella that have been isolated from humans. These organisms adhere to, multiply among and remain localized in the ciliated epithelial cells of the respiratory tract. B pertussis is the major cause of whopping cough or pertussis. B parapertussis is associated with a milder, less frequently occurring form of the disease.¹ Data from molecular genetic studies show that these two species may be insufficiently different to be classified as separate species. Toxin production remains the major distinction between B. pertussis and B. parapertussis.

Classic pertussis is described as a respiratory tract infection in which the patient develops a cough with a characteristic "whoop." The term "whooping cough" was abandoned when it was determined that not all patients with clinical pertussis developed this characteristic cough.

Bordetella species are tiny, gram-negative, strictly aerobic coccobacilli occurring singly or in pairs and may exhibit a bipolar appearance. While some species are motile, B. pertussis and B. parapertussis are nonmotile. They do not produce acid from carbohydrates. B. pertussis will not grow on common blood agar bases or chocolate agar, while B. parapertussis will grow on blood agar and sometimes on chocolate agar. Media for primary isolation must include starch, charcoal, ionexchange resins or a high percentage of blood to inactivate inhibitory substances.² B. pertussis may be recovered from secretions collected from the posterior nasopharynx, bronchoalveolar lavage and transbronchial specimens.