Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America
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Advances in molecular laboratory techniques are changing the landscape of Bordetella pertussis illness diagnosis. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays have greatly improved the sensitivity detection and the turnaround time to diagnosis compared to culture. Moreover, different respiratory specimens, such as flocked nasopharyngeal swabs (NPSs), nasopharyngeal aspirates (NPAs), and induced sputum, have been used for B. pertussis detection, although there is limited head-to-head comparison to evaluating the PCR yield from the 3 sampling methods. ⋯ Flocked nasopharyngeal swabs, nasopharyngeal aspirates, and induced sputum performed similarly for the detection of B. pertussis infection in young infants by PCR.