Abstract

Pertussis (whooping cough) is a disease of the respiratory tract that may be characterized by episodes of paroxysmal coughing and can be fatal in children younger than one year of age. Filamentous hemagglutinin (FHA) is a 200 kDa protein thought to participate in the attachment of B. pertussis to the ciliated epithelium of the respiratory tract. We have used a mouse model of aerosol infection to evaluate purified FHA, administered either parenterally or mucosally, for its ability to protect against respiratory B. pertussis infection as well as to study the mechanism of protective immunity. This model is suitable in that certain aspects of the disease in humans, including bacterial attachment to the ciliated epithelium, leukocytosis and a greater severity of disease in the young, are also observed in mice.

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