Bordetella Pertussis Flashcards
BORDETELLA PERTUSSIS
3 stages / 7-17 days symptom onset / 6-week symptom duration
A 16-month-old infant presents to clinic with c/o sneezing, decreased appetite, and hacking cough that began at night but is now
occurring during the day. What is high on your diagnosis differential of this patient?
A: RSV
B: Legionnaires disease
C: Pertussis
D: Epiglottitis
C: Pertussis
What is the typical incubation period for pertussis?
Answer: 7-17 days
T or F: infants are reservoirs of pertussis whereas adults / adolescents are most affected
Answer: False, infants are most affected whereas adults/adolescents are reservoirs
How is pertussis transmitted between humans?
Answer: droplet transmission
Approximately how long do symptoms last and what is unique about symptom progression?
Answer: last about 6 weeks, occur in 3 consecutive stages; cough that is intermittent and turns paroxysmal
Stage 1 of pertussis is called what?
Answer: Catarrhal
Copious discharge of mucus associated with inflammation of mucous membranes, especially of the nose and throat.
Stage 2 of pertussis is called what?
Answer: Paroxysmal
Stage 3 of pertussis is called what?
Answer: Convalescent
What is the typical symptom presentation in stage 1 (Catarrhal)?
Answer: insidious onset of lacrimation, sneezing, coryza, anorexia, malaise, hacking night cough that becomes day cough
What is the typical symptom presentation in stage 2 (Paroxysmal)?
Answer: bursts of rapid, consecutive coughs followed by deep, high-pitched inspiration (inspiratory whoop)
What is the typical symptom presentation in stage 3 (Convalescent)?
Answer: begins 4 weeks after onset with decrease in frequency / severity of paroxysms of cough
In adult patients, what must be part of your differential when a cough has been present for more than 2 weeks?
Answer: pertussis
What is the typical lab / diagnostic findings suggestive of pertussis?
A: PO2 <90%
B: WBC >15,000-20,000
C: Patchy opacities and lobar consolidation (CXR)
D: gram + bacteria (blood cultures)
B: WBC >15,000-20,000
Answer: B (patchy opacities/lobar consolidation is pneumonia; pertussis is a gram-negative bacteria)
The FNP knows the gold standard to diagnosing a patient pertussis is?
Answer: nasopharyngeal culture (Bordet-Gengou agar)
