Newly Emerging Clones of Bordetella pertussis Carrying prn2 and ptxP3 Alleles Implicated in Australian Pertussis Epidemic in 2008-2010.
Octavia, Sophie 1; Sintchenko, Vitali 2,3; Gilbert, Gwendolyn L. 2; Lawrence, Andrew 4; Keil, Anthony D. 5; Hogg, Geoff 6; Lan, Ruiting 1
[Article] Journal of Infectious Diseases. 205(8):1220-1224, April 15, 2012.

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Australia is experiencing a prolonged epidemic of pertussis that began in 2008. A total of 194 Bordetella pertussis isolates collected from 2008 through 2010 were typed by single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) analysis, by multilocus variable number tandem repeats analysis, and by fim3, prn, and ptxP sequence analyses. Strains with 2 closely related SNP profiles carrying prn2 and ptxP3 from the recently emerged SNP cluster I predominated. The data suggest increasing selection among the B. pertussis population in Australia in favor of strains carrying prn2 and ptxP3 under the pressure of acellular vaccine-induced immunity.

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