Citation

Evidence suggests that the resurgence of pertussis in many industrialized countries may result from the failure of current vaccines to prevent nasopharyngeal colonization by Bordetella pertussis, the principal causative agent of whooping cough. Here, we used a baboon model to test the protective potential of the novel, live attenuated pertussis vaccine candidate BPZE1. A single intranasal/intratracheal inoculation of juvenile baboons with BPZE1 resulted in transient nasopharyngeal colonization and induction of IgG and IgA to all antigens tested, while causing no adverse symptoms or leukocytosis. When BPZE1-vaccinated baboons were challenged with a high dose of a highly virulent B. pertussis isolate, they were fully protected against disease, whereas naive baboons developed illness (with one death) and leukocytosis. Total post-challenge nasopharyngeal virulent bacterial burden of vaccinated animals was substantially reduced (0.002%) compared to naive controls, providing promising evidence in non-human primates that BPZE1 protects against both pertussis disease and B. pertussis infection.