Pertussis, or whooping cough, is a highly contagious respiratory disease, caused by the bacterium Bordetella pertussis (B. pertussis). After almost 70 years of vaccination, pertussis remains one of the least controlled
vaccine-preventable diseases. The development and licensing process of novel pertussis vaccines is hampered by the lack of well-defined correlates of protection. This thesis investigated the antibody responses against pertussis vaccination and infection. We recommend the assessment of immunological responses in humans focused on mucosal immunity. A better understanding
of prevention and clearance of bacterial colonization in the respiratory
tract will help to define the correlates of protection and critical threshold values for protection and hence support the development of novel vaccines against B. pertussis but also other respiratory bacterial pathogens.
Evi van Schuppen (1993) obtained her Master’s degree in Biomedical Sciences at the Radboud University in 2016. That same year she started with her PhD research about pertussis immunology at the Section Pediatric Infectious Diseases of Radboudumc. Currently, she is working as a Senior Scientist at MSD.