A Case of Pediatric Pertussis Unhesitatingly Diagnosed with the Insight of Microbiology Laboratory
Ayaka Horiuchi
Department of Laboratory Medicine, Nagano Children’s Hospital, Azumino 399-8288, Japan.
Noriko Kubota
Department of Laboratory Medicine, Nagano Children’s Hospital, Azumino 399-8288, Japan and Department of Life Science Research Center, Nagano Children’s Hospital, Azumino 399-8288, Japan.
Eiko Hidaka
Department of Laboratory Medicine, Nagano Children’s Hospital, Azumino 399-8288, Japan and Department of Life Science Research Center, Nagano Children’s Hospital, Azumino 399-8288, Japan.
Tomohiko Nakamura
Department of Life Science Research Center, Nagano Children’s Hospital, Azumino 399-8288, Japan and Division of Infection Control, Nagano Children’s Hospital, Azumino 399-8288, Japan.
Kozue Oana
Department of Health and Medical Sciences, Shinshu University Graduate School of Medicine, Matsumoto 390-8621, Japan and Department of Biomedical Laboratory Sciences, Division of Clinical Microbiology, School of Health Sciences, Shinshu University School of Medicine, Matsumoto 390-8621, Japan.
Yoshiyuki Kawakami *
Department of Health and Medical Sciences, Shinshu University Graduate School of Medicine, Matsumoto 390-8621, Japan and Department of Biomedical Laboratory Sciences, Division of Clinical Microbiology, School of Health Sciences, Shinshu University School of Medicine, Matsumoto 390-8621, Japan.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
We describe a pediatric pertussis case occurred in an unvaccinated six-month-old male infant. The newborn patient was rapidly diagnosed by means of the insight of the clinical microbiology laboratory, despite the absence of comments on the suspicion of pertussis. The keen insight of the laboratory lay in noticing the discrepancies between the usual culture results and the gram-stain findings on the respiratory secretion submitted for bacteriological examination with the clinical diagnosis of aspiration pneumonitis. It should be highly stressed that the careful consideration of findings from gram-stained preparations surely guide correct diagnosis.
Keywords: Bordetella pertussis, pediatric, gram’s stain, isolation, LAMP, loop-mediated isothermal amplification.