Pertussis trends in Neuquén Province, Argentina, between 2004 and 2012

PIANCIOLA L; MAZZEO M; FLORES D; FIORI S; NAVELLO M; ZITTA E; MULLER C; BOTTERO D; HOZBOR D

Dublin

Congreso; 10 th International Symposium on Bordetella; 2013

Trinity Biomedical Science Institute

In Argentina, the incidence of pertussis has increased steadily since 2002. In the province ofNeuquén, approximately 600,000 inhabitants, this increase was observed since 2004, when 240cases were reported (95 confirmed). In 2005, a major outbreak with 2842 notifications (778confirmed) was detected. There were 5 deaths registered in infants younger than 1 year. Infollowing years, the number of reported/confirmed cases was: 2006 (1061/250), 2007(1269/243), 2008 (946/83), 2009 (424/8), 2010 (274/6), 2011 (466/52). Another outbreak wasdetected in 2012 (868/126). It should be highlighted that during both outbreaks the distributionof cases by age was different from that previously observed in the rest of Argentina and inother years in Neuquén. The largest proportion of confirmed cases was observed in the agerange 6-18 months (30.7% in 2005 and 29.2% in 2012 compared with 11.4% for the rest of theperiod). Moreover, the proportions of cases in infants with less than 6 months were lower(20.2% in 2005 and 33.6% in 2012, against 43.7% in the rest).During 2007-2012 period, other species different from B. pertussis (B. parapertussis and B.holmesii) were detected in patients with symptoms compatible with pertussis.Altogether these data showed that pertussis remains a major problem for public health in theprovince of Neuquén. Worth mentioning is the different distribution by age of confirmed casesduring the detected outbreaks. Other interesting facts are the high circulation in adolescentsand adults and the detection of other species of Bordetella causing symptoms compatible withpertussis.