Moleculer Detection and Characterisation of Bordetella Pertusis and Presence of Pertactin Gene Among Patients with Symptoms of Respiratory Tract Infection in Kaduna State

This study detected B. pertussis gene from sputum of respiratory infected patients. Eighty-nine (89) sputum samples were collected and stained using gram staining technique. Gram negative cocco-bacilli were seen in 19 of the samples which were then subjected to DNA extraction by phenol chloroform method. 16SrRNA primer specific for B. pertussis was used for the amplification of B. pertussis. The positive samples were subjected to Dye terminator cycle sequencing with quick start kit. Four 4 (4.5%) of the samples were positive for B. pertussis with an amplicon of 998bp. The sequence was analyzed using basic local alignment search tool (BLAST) from National Centre for Biotechnology Information NCBI. The query sequence showed 90% identity with Bordetella pertussis strain VITSBSTV04 16SrRNA gene partial sequence. The four positive samples for B.pertussis subjected to PCR for the amplification of pertactin gene, showed negative amplicon of the gene. These indicate that pertactin gene is not present in the B.pertussis detected in this study. A total of 92.1% of the case patients responded positively to having at least one dose of vaccination. The significant proportion of pertactin negative strains analyzed in this study indicates that adequate measures are needed to curtail the spread of B.pertussis. Keywords: B. pertussis, Acellular vaccine, pertactin, Whole cell vaccine, amplicon, virulence