Background and purpose: Pertussis is one of the communicable reasons of prolonged cough that children are being vaccinated in our country for prophylaxis. Despite high vaccine coverage the incidence of pertussis is still increasing. This study was done to investigate the prevalence of pertussis in children and its clinical manifestations before and after the beginning of vaccination age. Materials and methods: This descriptive-analytic study was performed in children with coughs for more than two weeks whom found with no reason for prolonged cough and were diagnosed with pertussis. The clinical records of the patients were assessed and the result of culture was studied. The data was then analyzed using chi square test in SPSS ver.17. Results: A total of 156 patients including 67 (42.9%) male and 89 (57.1%) female with the mean age of 15.8±1.9 enrolled in this study who had history of more than two weeks cough. Among the cases 137 (87.8%) patients had paroxysmal cough with an average of 6.9 days. Seven cases (7.8%) had positive cultures for pertussis of whom four aged under two months of old and three were older than two months of old. There was no significant difference in clinical manifestations of the two groups (less and more than two months). Conclusion: It is suggested to vaccinate mothers for immunization of children before the beginning of vaccination age. Also, to achieve a better immunization for children at the age of vaccination, using high potent acellular vaccines with fewer side effects are of great benefit.

Keywords: Pediatric, pertussis, clinical manifestations, vaccination

Full-Text [PDF 222 kb]   (2601 Downloads)