Antibodies to pertussis antigens in pediatric health care workers

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Abstract
To compare the antibody concentrations against Bordetella antigens in health care workers in a pediatric hospital with those of two different populations without professional contact with children. In a pediatric hospital 155 health care workers (135 female, 20 male), 292 male navy recruits after 3 months at sea and 146 regular blood donors (41 female, 105 male) were screened for antibodies of isotypes IgG and IgA to pertussis toxin (PT) and filamentous hemagglutinin (FHA) by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Pediatric health care workers were positive for IgG anti-PT in 88%, for IgA anti-PT in 52%, for IgG anti-FHA in 99% and for IgA anti-FHA in 84%. Relative numbers for blood donors and recruits were 86 and 80% for IgG anti-PT, 56 and 55% for IgA anti-PT, 100 and 98% for IgG anti-FHA and 92 and 82% for IgA anti-FHA, respectively. Reverse cumulative distribution of all antibodies except for IgA anti-FHA showed no differences among the three groups; 2% of pediatric personnel, 3% of blood donors and 3% of navy recruits, respectively, had IgG anti-PT ≥ 100 enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay units/ml, indicating a recent contact to Bordetella pertussis. Antibodies to B. pertussis antigens, such as IgG/IgA anti-PT and IgG/IgA anti-FHA, were similarly distributed in all three groups. Our results suggest that exposures leading to measurable immune responses to pertussis antigens in German pediatric health care workers are not significantly more frequent than in other populations without professional contacts with children.