Cough Plate Examinations for B. Pertussis

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Abstract
A report of the first yr''s. experience with a cough-plate service, for diagnosis of pertussis, in cooperation with local health authorities in Grand Rapids, Michigan. By use of plates of a slightly modified Bordet-Gengou medium exposed at a distance of 4-5 in. from the patient''s mouth during several expulsive coughs, 23% of the positive diagnoses were made within 48 hrs. after plates reached the laboratory, 75% within 72 hrs., and 91% within 4 days. Typical colonies were subjected to morphological and serological (phase I) confirmation. Laboratory findings effected earlier diagnosis and so increased the chances for effective isolation of patients during the most infective stage. Hemophilus (Bacillus) pertussis was isolated from relatively few cases after the 4th wk. of disease; thus, a case harboring the organism longer after onset may be considered a post-pertussis or convalescent carrier. All cultures (136) isolated from patients up to the 35th day of disease fell into a single serological group,[long dash]phase I of Leslie and Gardner.

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