Special remarks: The DEMEDITEC Bordetella pertussis IgA Antibody ELISA Test Kit has been designed for the the detection and the quantitative determination of specific IgA antibodies against Bordetella pertussis in serum and plasma.
The antigen used for coating the microtiter plates is FHA + Toxin, strain Tohama.

Whooping cough is a disease of the respiratory tracts which is caused by Bordetella pertussis bacteria. It is transmitted by airborne infection. The gramnegative Coccobacillus produces a series of biologically active molecules. The different compounds appear either during the pathogenesis or during the process of immunization against pertussis and show different effects. A characterisation has been made for the pertussis toxin (pt), the filamentery haemagglutinine (fha) and different lipopolysaccharides (lps).
Pertussis shows a high rate of transmission (rates of infection of over 90 % have been found for non-vaccinated household members) and can cause severe diseases, especially for very young children. From 10749 patients under one year between 1980 and 1989 69 % were brought into hospital, 22 % suffered from pneumonia, 0.9 % showed an Encephalopathy and 0.6 % died.
For older children and adults (including already vaccinated persons) the infection may be observed by an unspecified bronchitis or inflammation of the upper respiratory tracts. Even asymptomatic cases are quite common.
The serological response following pertussis disease or immunization with pertussis vaccine has been measured with agglutination assays, precipitins, complement fixation and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).
Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays, in which Bordetella antigen (containing toxin, FHA and LPS and standardized in U/ml) is bound to a solid phase support, are sensitive, easy to perform and can be used both to determine seropositivity with a single serum and to indicate recent Bordetella infection by determination of IgM and IgA.