Pertussis in adolescents and adults: time to reimmunize?

The role of adults as reservoirs of pertussis infections and as victims of symptomatic disease has recently been recognized. Waning immunity after routine pertussis immunization in childhood appears to contribute to this problem. The expanded knowledge of the components of the Bordella pertussis organism has led to the production of new vaccines consisting of one or more bacterial components. These vaccines have been found to be safe and immunogenic in adults. It is likely that within the next several years the general use of acellular pertussis vaccines for the routine immunization of adolescents and adults will be recommended.