Whooping cough is a highly contagious acute respiratory disease caused by an aerobic Gram-negative encapsulated coco-bacillus bacterium, Bordetella pertussis. It is a rigorous human pathogen, with no known animal or environmental reservoirs, and an airborne disease. By inhalation, Bordetella pertussis colonizes the ciliated cells of the bronchioepithelium causing a disease characterized by; epithelial damage, mucus hypersecretion, pulmonary edema and paroxysmal cough. It is often accompanied by pneumonia, otitis edema, convulsions, post-cough vomiting and encephalopathy (1). For the disease to occur, Bordetella pertussis evades the host's immune system and spreads into the lower respiratory tract. The inhaled bacterial droplets then attach to ciliated epithelial cells in the nasal pharynx and trachea. It is at this point that Bordetella pertussis produces virulent factors classified into two; adhesins and toxins. Adhesins mediate bacterial attachment to epithelial cells while toxins mediate the host immune system. Memberships include; filamentous haemagglutinin, fimbriae and pertactin while toxins include pertussis toxin, tracheal cytotoxin and adenylate cyclase toxin(1). To understand the role of these virulence factors in pertussis, a mouse model was used (2). Studies have shown that pertactin, a 69 kDa nonfimbrial outer membrane protein, facilitates the attachment of bacteria to ciliated respiratory cells. Experiments conducted on humans to test the role of pertactin showed no significant effect, except with Bassinet's results (4). Furthermore, filamentous hemagglutinin confers infection by attaching to host cells in the lower respiratory tract. It is approximately 2 nm wide and 50 n...... center of paper ......lonization by Bordetella pertussis and identification of an immunodominant lipoprotein. Infect Immune 72:3350–335810. Mielcarek N, Debrie AS, Raze D et al (2006) Bordetella pertussis attenuata: new live vaccines for intranasal immunization. Vaccine 24(Suppl 2):54–5511. Flak TA, Goldman WE (1999) Cell signaling and specificity of airway nitric oxide production in whooping cough. Cell Microbiol 1:51–6012. Amirthalingam G. Strategies to control whooping cough in infants (2013) Arch Dis Child 98(7):552-5. http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/archdischild-2012-302968. PMid:2369859413. Campbell H., G. Amirthalingam, N. Andrews, NK Fry, RC George, TG Harrison et al. Accelerating control of whooping cough in England and Wales Emerg Infect Dis, 18 (2012), pp. 38–414. http://www.hpa.org.uk/hpr/archives/2013/news1913.htm15. http://www.wales.nhs.uk/sites3/page.cfm?orgid=457&pid=58100