Retrospective analysis of bacterial culture-confirmed pertussis cases in Beijing Children's Hospital from 2014 to 2019 reveals prevention and control of the grim situation in mainland China.

BACKGROUND Our study aims to explore the epidemiological features of children with bacterial culture-confirmed pertussis visiting Beijing Children's Hospital, China. METHODS From 2014 through 2019, patients with suspected pertussis coming from mainland China provided nasopharyngeal swabs and bacterial culture that was subsequently cultivated. RESULTS During the study period, 6956 children with suspected pertussis from 30 different administrative provinces of mainland China were investigated, of which 1494 cases (21.5%) had positive B. pertussis culture. The number of pertussis cases increased year-on-year, from 122 in 2014 to 279 in 2019. Of the confirmed cases, 38.2% and 26.8% were identified in the summer and autumn respectively. The age distribution of children with pertussis showed that 77.2% were < 12 months old, including 56.0% < 6 months old. Only thirteen B. parapertussis isolates and one B. bronchiseptica isolates were collected in the present samples. CONCLUSIONS The present culture-confirmed cases reveal the severe epidemic situation of pertussis spreading over the whole country and mainly affecting the infants. It is necessary to set up hospital-based surveillance with reliable laboratory methods to promote clinical awareness and to monitor the disease.