Longitudinal evidence of differential pertussis antibody durability following natural infection among vaccinated children living in contrasting malaria transmission settings in coastal Kenya
Vaccine·
- DOI
- 10.1016/j.vaccine.2026.128837
- PMID
- 42314312
- PMCID
- —
- OpenAlex
- W4417063295
- Study type
- Journal article
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Article type
- journal-article
- Integrity
- current
Why this research matters now
Persistent malaria transmission may erode long-term humoral immunity to pertussis following natural infection, with potential implications for pertussis control strategies and booster vaccination scheduling in malaria-endemic regions.
Structured evidence summary
Research question
The study examined whether malaria endemicity influences the durability of pertussis-specific antibodies following natural infection in vaccinated children.
Study design
Longitudinal serum analysis of 92 children followed for up to 14 years with annual sampling and continuous active malaria surveillance. Pertussis toxin-specific IgG was measured using an in-house protein microarray platform, and vaccination histories were verified through immunization records.
Population and setting
Children from two neighboring communities on the Kenyan Coast with contrasting malaria transmission: Junju (high transmission, n=44) and Ngerenya (low transmission, n=48).
Main findings
Vaccinated children showed gradual post-vaccination antibody decay stabilizing by approximately 10 years of age. Following natural pertussis infection, anti-PT titres rose sharply but diverged by malaria setting: antibody levels remained stably elevated for several years in the low-transmission area, while they decayed rapidly in the high-transmission area, returning to pre-boost levels within a few years.
Public-health relevance
Persistent malaria transmission may erode long-term humoral immunity to pertussis following natural infection, with potential implications for pertussis control strategies and booster vaccination scheduling in malaria-endemic regions.
Important limitations
This summary is limited to the supplied single-article abstract and metadata. The study design involves observational comparisons between two communities that may differ in unmeasured ways beyond malaria transmission intensity. Decision-grade interpretation requires access to the full paper for details on potential confounders, sample size justification, and statistical adjustment.
GIDS interpretation
The article is discoverable through disease classifiers for pertussis and malaria, country classifier for Kenya, and topic classifiers including surveillance, transmission dynamics, vaccination, and vaccine effectiveness. It addresses antibody durability in the context of co-endemic infections rather than outbreak response.
Related GIDS surveillance
Literature context does not validate, explain, or change a surveillance signal. Exact and contextual relationships are shown separately.
Evidence relationships
This article has 15 auditable classifier relationships to diseases, places, topics, and study design.