ABSTRACT
The species of genus Bordetella are small non-spore-forming gram-negative aerobic coccobacilli and consist of nine members. Among them are the more notable and familiar mammalian pathogens Bordetella pertussis and Bordetella parapertussishu, which cause whooping cough in humans; B. parapertussisov, which causes a respiratory disease in sheep; and Bordetella bronchiseptica, which causes respiratory diseases in numerous mammals.1-7 Genetic data suggest that these four are related enough to actually be subspecies of a single ancestor of B. bronchiseptica and are sometimes referred to as the B. bronchiseptica cluster.2,3,8-10
Bordetella avium, more distantly related to the B. bronchiseptica cluster, is found in the respiratory tract of birds11 and is a respiratory pathogen of poultry.12 Three other species, identied in the genus-Bordetella holmesii, Bordetella trematum, and Bordetella hinzii-have also been associated with human infection. Although B. hinzii is more commonly isolated from the respiratory tracts of birds, all three species can cause blood-borne infections in immunocompromised individuals.13-15 B. holmesii is more commonly isolated after causing a respiratory disease in humans,16-21 whereas B. trematum more typically causes wound infections.22,23 The most recent addition to the Bordetella family is Bordetella petrii and is unusual in that it appears to be the only species so far that was initially isolated from environmental sources such as river sediment (Table 41.1).24-26
B. pertussis was the rst Bordetella identied in the early 1900s by Jules Bordet at the Pasteur Institute.27 It was originally named Haemophilus pertussis, based on some phenotypic similarities to members of the Haemophilus genus, including growth on special blood agar.
