Which bacterium causes whooping cough, the respiratory disease also called pertussis?

Bordetella pertussis causes whooping cough, the respiratory disease also called pertussis.

This small Gram-negative bacterium spreads through respiratory droplets and attaches to the ciliated cells lining the airways. Its toxins and other virulence factors interfere with the normal clearance of mucus, producing prolonged bouts of coughing. A sharp intake of breath after a coughing fit can create the characteristic whooping sound, although the sound is not present in every patient.

Jules Bordet and Octave Gengou isolated the organism in 1906, and the genus Bordetella commemorates Jules Bordet. Before widespread vaccination, pertussis was a major childhood disease. Vaccines now use purified components or inactivated bacterial material rather than live B. pertussis.

Pertussis can be especially dangerous for infants, who may have breathing pauses instead of a classic whoop. The bacterium is distinct from Haemophilus influenzae, despite that organism’s misleading species name: H. influenzae does not cause influenza.