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Whooping cough
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Whooping cough, also called pertussis, is a highly contagious respiratory illness. It is caused by a bacterium, Bordetella pertussis, a gram-negative coccobacillus: coccobacillus for its shape, somewhere between round and rod-shaped, and gram-negative for the way it stains in the laboratory. It is also a fastidious bacterium, meaning it has demanding growth requirements.
Where it settles matters a great deal. The airway is lined by ciliated epithelium, a layer of cells with cilia, tiny hairs that move all the time, pushing mucus and debris outward; that movement is called mucociliary clearance. The bacterium sticks to exactly those cells using three gripping tools, filamentous hemagglutinin, pertactin and fimbriae, and that is how it resists being swept out. It grabs onto the very brushes that are supposed to sweep it out.
It also makes its main virulence factor, pertussis toxin. That toxin inactivates G proteins, the parts cells use to communicate, and in doing so it disrupts the signaling of the host's immune system.
In brief
Whooping cough is a highly contagious respiratory illness caused by Bordetella pertussis, a gram-negative coccobacillus with fastidious growth requirements.
The bacterium attaches to the ciliated epithelium of the airway using filamentous hemagglutinin, pertactin and fimbriae, which lets it resist mucociliary clearance.
It grabs onto the very brushes that are supposed to sweep it out.
Its main virulence factor, pertussis toxin, disrupts the host's immune signaling by inactivating G proteins.
Sources (1)
- National Center for Biotechnology Information, StatPearls PublishingPertussis, StatPearlsPublished
This page explains the topic in general terms; it does not tell anyone what treatment to follow.
Updated