Grant: Doctoral: Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarships

Pertussis, also called whooping cough, is a lung infection caused by the bacteria Bordetella pertussis. It is a major public health concern. Despite high vaccination coverage, we have seen a resurgence of the disease, both globally and in Canada. In Canada, 60-74% of pertussis cases are among infants younger than 2 months, who are too young to be vaccinated. Among infants younger than 2 months and admitted to the hospital with pertussis, 38% are admitted to intensive care and 2.3% die. To protect infants too young to be vaccinated, a number of countries (e.g. the US, UK, Australia) including Canada recommend vaccinating pregnant women against whooping cough. This approach to vaccination relies, at least in part, on the transfer of anti-pertussis antibodies from the mother to the newborn via the placenta. However, there are critical questions that must be addressed before this strategy is widely implemented: (1) we must determine the best time during pregnancy to give whooping cough vaccine; (2) we must show how efficiently anti-pertussis antibodies transferred from the mother to the newborn protect babies; and (3) we must determine whether vaccination against whooping cough in pregnancy suppresses the infant's immune response to the routine vaccines administered during infancy. This project aims to answer these gaps in knowledge. I will assess the function of anti-pertussis antibodies in newborns born to women immunized against whooping cough in different times in pregnancy. I will establish new laboratory tests that will further assess the function of anti-pertussis antibodies produced after vaccination in pregnancy. Lastly, I will analyze antibody levels of all published studies to date that addressed whether vaccination against whooping cough in pregnancy affects the antibody levels in the infants after their own vaccination. Altogether, this project will ensure we use the best strategy possible to prevent whooping cough in young infants.