Table 1.

Two groups of rettrospectively analyzed patients.

WHO recommended case definition
Clinical case definition
A case diagnosed as pertussis by a physician or
A person with a cough lasting at least 2 weeks with at least one of the following symptoms:
Paroxysms (i.e., fits) of coughing
Inspiratory whooping
Post-tussive vomiting (i.e., vomiting immediately after coughing) without other apparent cause
Criteria for laboratory confirmation
Isolation of Bordetella pertussis or
Detection of genomic sequences by means of the PCR
Case classification:
Suspected: A case that meets the clinical case definition.
Confirmed: A person with a cough that is laboratory-confirmed or epidemiologically linked to a laboratory confirmed case.
Group I - Case that meets the definition for suspected pertussis
Group II - Case that does not meet the definition for suspected pertussis.