Nursing Report: Pertussis Pathophysiology, Treatment, and Prevention

This nursing report examines pertussis, also known as whooping cough, focusing on its pathophysiology, treatment, and prevention strategies, particularly in the context of Australia. The report analyzes an article discussing pertussis epidemiology and prevention, highlighting the role of immunization. It emphasizes the importance of high immunization coverage in industrialized countries and addresses the limitations in surveillance systems and diagnostic procedures. The report also discusses the impact of the disease on vulnerable populations, such as infants and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, and emphasizes the need for integrated approaches and confirmatory diagnostic strategies. The author reflects on the personal significance of the topic and the importance of disseminating vaccines based on the demographic spread of the disease. The selected article emphasizes the need for active steps to develop confirmatory diagnostic strategies and for policymakers to understand the importance of vaccine distribution and integrated approaches for pertussis management.

Running head: NURSING
Nursing
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Reason for selection of the post
Hi, I am please to inform to inform you that I have selected your response for writing a reply.
The response is selected because it helped in understanding a detailed
pathophysiology of Pertussis and the role of immunization in the treatment of this respiratory
disease. According to the Australia Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) (2019) pertussis
is a nationally notifiable disease in Australia. There are 20,106 notifications of whooping
cough in Australia in 2016 of them one out of 33 were infants who are under 12 months of
age. Thus high level of outbreaks among the infants require effective immunization and this
post throws light on the role of immunization in treating whooping cough or pertussis.
Self-reflection
Since from childhood I have seen that majority of the people who are from the
minority class or the aboriginals or the Torres Strait Islander, are undergoing premature death
resulting out of whooping cough. The main affected population are new born children of the
aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders. The development of the whooping cough leads to
premature death among the new-born.
Selected article
Gabutti, G., Azzari, C., Bonanni, P., Prato, R., Tozzi, A. E., Zanetti, A., & Zuccotti, G.
(2015). Pertussis: current perspectives on epidemiology and prevention. Human
vaccines & immunotherapeutics, 11(1), 108-117. https://doi.org/10.4161/hv.34364

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Description of the article
The level of evidence of the selected article
The level of evidence of the selected article is level 5. This is the last level in the
hierarchy of evidence. The selected set of paper mainly deals with the expert's opinion about
the underlying pathohysiology of the disease development without any explicity conduction
of the critical appraisal of the selected set of articles over which the review is based on
(LoBiondo-Wood & Haber, 2014).
The study design
The main study design of the article is review paper by more than one author.
However, the review did not conduct any critical appraisal of the article or meta-analysis
(LoBiondo-Wood & Haber, 2014). Whooping cough is caused by Bordetella pertussis
leading to respiratory tract infection. The symptoms are manifested through cough and store
throat. Since it is a highly contagious disease, the primary care givers, the parents also
develop the disease leading to overall increase in the economic burden (Australia Institute of
Health and Welfare (AIHW), 2019). The post provides a reference to the treatment of
pertussis and thus it grabbed my attention.
Findings of the article
The selected article highlighted that high immunization coverage rates are achieved in
the treatment of pertussis mainly in the industrial countries. This has helped to decrease the
spread of pathogen. However, the overall immunity wanes. Adults and adolescents play an
important role in defining the dynamics of the infection. The paper also highlighted that the
surveillance system for Whooping cough is also associated with numerous limitations along
with lack of confirmatory tests for the detection of whooping cough. Lack of diagnostic

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procedures for confirmatory detection of whooping cough creates a barrier in extracting
proper epidemiological data for whooping infection. This unavailability of information
hampers taking active prophylactic measures in spread of the disease among the school
children and adolescents. Moreover, lack of proper epidemiological data also hampers proper
circulation of the vaccine kits in order to eradicate whooping cough from the grass root level
(Gabutti et al., 2015). The article proposes that prevention of pertussis require integrated
approach and adoption of different techniques of immunization might prove to be helpful in
promoting effective immunization strategies (Gabutti et al., 2015).
The article will be helpful because it helped the researcher in understanding that
active step is required to be undertaken in order found confirmatory diagnostic strategy for
the detection of whooping cough. At the same time, the research helped the policy maker to
understand importance of disseminating the vaccines based on the demographic spread of the
disease along with importance of taking integrated approach for effective management of
whooping cough.

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References
Australia Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) (2019). Whooping cough in Australia.
Access date: 16th April 2019. Retrieved from:
https://www.aihw.gov.au/getmedia/303c1ab7-9b04-4544-9c5d-852c533ac87a/aihw-
phe-236_WhoopingCough.pdf.aspx
Gabutti, G., Azzari, C., Bonanni, P., Prato, R., Tozzi, A. E., Zanetti, A., & Zuccotti, G.
(2015). Pertussis: current perspectives on epidemiology and prevention. Human
vaccines & immunotherapeutics, 11(1), 108-117.
LoBiondo-Wood, G., & Haber, J. (2014). Nursing Research-E-Book: Methods and Critical
Appraisal for Evidence-Based Practice. Elsevier Health Sciences.