Although it is lesser known than its European and American competitors GlaxoSmithKline, Sanofi-Aventis, Merck and Novartis the firm is the world's number one producer of measles and DTP (diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis) vaccines.
It was first called the Bordet-Gengou bacillus, later Haemophilus pertussis, and still later Bordetella pertussis.
The first pertussis immunizing agent was introduced in the 1940s and soon led to a drastic decline in the number of cases.
The number of cases of pertussis (whooping cough), a serious disease that is frequently fatal in infancy, can be dramatically reduced by the use of the pertussis vaccine.
Studies have indicated that only one vaccine, pertussis vaccine, may give rise to asthma; however, this positive association has not been successfully confirmed.
Diphtheria toxoid is also available combined with tetanus toxoid and pertussis vaccine (DPT), combined with tetanus toxoid alone (DT), and combined with tetanus toxoid for adults (Td).
Now included in the DPT (diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis) vaccine, it confers active immunity against whooping cough to children.
A booster dose of pertussis vaccine should be given between 15 and 18 months of age, and another booster is given when the child is between four and six years old.
Standard immunizations of infants and children include those for diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis (DTP); polio (OPV); measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR); Haemophilus influenzae type b (HbCV); and hepatitis B (HBV).
Whooping cough, also called pertussis, acute, highly communicable respiratory disease characterized in its typical form by paroxysms of coughing followed by a long-drawn inspiration, or "whoop".
Administration of a combined vaccine against diphtheria, pertussis (whooping cough), and tetanus (DPT) is recommended for young children.
