Abstract
The protective effects of an acellular pertussis vaccine were investigated in a murine model of respiratory infection (aerosol challenge model) with various strains of Bordetella pertussis (B. pertussis) as challengers. There were no significant differences in terms of the time course of increases in numbers of bacterial cells in mouse lungs after aerosol challenge among the tested phaseI strains. The vaccine had a strong protective effect against of B. pertussis strain Tohama the phaseI strain used for production of the vaccine, however was less effective against other clinical isolates of pertussis. Our data suggest that a novel vaccine(s) should be developed from the strains derived from current clinical isolates to eliminate the incidence of pertussis.
