Proteins targeted by pertussis vaccine are mutating unusually quickly, study finds

Proteins targeted by the whooping cough (pertussis) vaccine are changing more quickly than other proteins on the surface of the bacterium, and this could have “serious consequences” for the ability of current vaccines to control the disease, a study has found.1

A worldwide resurgence of pertussis has been linked to a switch from whole cell vaccine to the use of acellular pertussis vaccines, which contain 1-5 purified Bordetella …