National Reference Center (NRC) for Bordetella pertussis

Important communication regarding PCR for Bordetella (04/10/2023)

Problem

• UTM swabs contain antibiotics, which makes culture (as part of the NRCs activities) impossible.
• Copan discovered in 2021 that the raw materials used to produce the eSwab® collection material contain small quantities of non-viable Bordetella parapertussis nucleic acid residues. As a result, false positive results can be obtained for the detection of Bordetella parapertussis (low positive with high Ct) when sensitive molecular techniques are used.

Action

Preferably do not use eSwab® for Bordetella PCR, but swabs and transport media from other manufacturers, or preferably collect the nasopharyngeal sample by washing (with a syringe), rinsing (with a sterile nose bulb) or aspiration (with vacuum aspiration).

General information

1. Symptoms from whooping cough
2. Sampling of nasopharyngeal material

Overview analysis and facturation

* you can contact a routine laboratory of your choice

Helpful links:

At the bottom of this page, you can find the NRC reports/epidemiological reports

You can consult the epidemiological surveillance reports also at: Health topic Whooping cough, Health topic Vaccine-preventable diseases.