Bordetella Pertussis in the 21st Century: Surveillance, Immunity, and Control of a Resurgent Pathogen

Pertussis (whooping cough) remains a persistent global public health challenge despite decades of widespread vaccination. While vaccines have substantially reduced mortality, recent years have seen a troubling resurgence worldwide. This rise is driven by waning vaccine immunity, gaps in vaccination coverage, improved diagnostics, and evolving surveillance practices. Infants continue to bear the highest burden of severe disease, while adolescents and adults contribute significantly to ongoing transmission. A holistic understanding of pathogen evolution, disease burden, and optimal vaccination strategies across diverse settings is still needed. Effectively addressing pertussis requires integrated approaches spanning epidemiology, immunology, public health, health systems, and policy.This Research Topic advances a comprehensive, multidisciplinary understanding of pertussis by bringing together evidence from epidemiology, vaccinology, immunology, genomics, public health, health systems, and social and behavioral sciences. It seeks to identify actionable solutions to strengthen surveillance, optimize vaccination strategies, and improve outbreak preparedness and response — informing context-specific, evidence-based strategies that can close vaccination gaps, protect vulnerable populations, and support sustainable pertussis control globally.We encourage studies that investigate, but are not limited to:• Global, regional, and local burden of pertussis, including temporal trends, resurgence, and outbreaks• Surveillance systems, case detection, laboratory confirmation, and reporting practices: successes and challenges• Vaccination strategies, booster policies, maternal immunization, and navigating barriers to uptake• Waning immunity, vaccine effectiveness, and implications for public health policy and research• Molecular epidemiology, pathogen evolution, macrolide-resistant B. pertussis, and implications for transmission and control• Disease burden, risk factors, and targeted prevention strategies in high-risk groups, particularly young infants, pregnant women, and under-immunized or hard-to-reach communities• Public health responses to outbreaks, including contact tracing, prevention, control measures, and community engagement: successes and challenges• Health system practices in pertussis diagnosis, prevention, and management: successes and challenges• Social, behavioral, and structural determinants affecting vaccination efforts and pertussis control• Policy, implementation research, and evaluation of national and international pertussis prevention strategies Topic editors: Cynthia Kenyon, Benard Kulohoma Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/82321/bordetella-pertussis-in-the-21st-century-surveillance-immunity-and-control-of-a-resurgent-pathogen