Pertussis (Bordetella pertussis) (Whooping Cough)
A cough illness lasting at least 2 weeks with one of the following: paroxysms of coughing, inspiratory "whoop," or post-tussive vomiting -- and without other apparent cause (as reported by a health professional)
Isolation of Bordetella pertussis from clinical specimen
Probable: meets the clinical case definition, is not laboratory confirmed, and is not epidemiologically linked to a laboratory-confirmed case
Confirmed: a clinically compatible case that is laboratory confirmed or epidemiologically linked to a laboratory-confirmed case
The clinical case definition above is appropriate for endemic or sporadic cases. In outbreak settings, a case may be defined as a cough illness lasting at least 2 weeks (as reported by a health professional). Because direct fluorescent antibody testing of nasopharyngeal secretions has been shown in some studies to have low sensitivity and variable specificity (9,10), it should not be relied on as a criterion for laboratory confirmation. Both probable and confirmed cases should be reported to the NNDSS.
9. Broome CV, Fraser DW, English WJ. Pertussis--diagnostic methods and surveillance. In: Manclark CR, Hill JC, eds. International Symposium on Pertussis. Bethesda, MD: US Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, Public Health Service, National Institutes of Health, 1979; DHEW publication no. (NIH)79-1830:19-22.
10. Halperin SA, Bortolussi R, Wort AJ. Evaluation of culture, immunofluorescence, and serology for the diagnosis of pertussis. J Clin Microbiol 1989;27:752-7.