Bacteria Genomes - BORDETELLA PARAPERTUSSIS

Bordetella parapertussis is a respiratory pathogen that can cause mild pharyngitis. It is a Gram-negative, aerobic coccobacilli similar to B. pertussis but it lacks some of the toxins which make B. pertussis more pathogenic. Biochemical testing can easily differentiate the two species.

The bacterium Bordetella pertussis is the causative agent of whooping cough, which is a world wide disease afflicting unvaccinated children as well as previously vaccinated children and adults in whom immunity has has been compromised. It is transmitted by respiratory droplets and causes disease only in humans. The related species, B. parapertussis also cause pertussis syndrome (whooping cough), although the illness caused by B. parapertussis is usually milder than that caused by B. pertussis.



Bordetella parapertussis also causes respiratory infection in sheep although research indicates, human and ovine B. parapertussis strains comprise two distinct populations, indicating that little or no transmission occurs between sheep and humans. Ovine and human B. parapertussis strains appear to have evolved independently from B. bronchiseptica strains and to have adapted to different hosts (sheep and humans).

References:

Nat. Genet. 35(1):32-40. 2004 DOI:10.1038/Ng1227-10.1038/Ng1227
http://www.genomenewsnetwork.org/sequenced_genomes/genome_guide_p1.shtml
http://www.sanger.ac.uk/Projects/B_pertussis/
Int. J. Syst. Bacteriol. 46(3):640-7 1996