Published online September 30, 2005
PEDIATRICS Vol. 116 No. 4 October 2005, pp. 1056-1057 (doi:10.1542/peds.2005-1843)

This Article Extract Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Services E-mail this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in Web of Science Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to My File Cabinet Download to citation manager Request Permissions Citing Articles Citing Articles via CrossRef Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Cherry, J. D. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Cherry, J. D. Related Collections Infectious Disease & Immunity Related AAP Red Book topics: Pertussis (Whooping Cough) Diphtheria Tetanus (Lockjaw) Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Cherry Picking: In Reply

James D. Cherry, MD, MSc
Department of Pediatrics,
David Geffen School of Medicine,
University of California, Los Angeles,
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1752

In Reply.—

For the most part, this letter by Dr Brunell mirrors his recent editorial published in the newspaper Infectious Diseases in Children and republished as a guest editorial in a second newspaper, Infectious Disease News.^1,2 The editorial was so far off the mark that I wrote a response.³ Published with my response was a second diatribe by Dr Brunell which contains much of what is said in his present letter.⁴

This letter by Dr Brunell is composed of 8 paragraphs, 7 of which contain 1 factual errors, as well as much irrelevant information. Most disturbing to me is that it seems that Dr Brunell has not even read the article on which he is commenting⁵ or my response to his original editorial.³

I believe the 9 summary points in my article are valid and important and are not refuted by any information in Dr Brunell's letter.⁵ The only issue that requires additional comment relates to the serological diagnosis of pertussis in adolescents and adults. Dr Brunell questions this and cites 2 articles in which Fine is the author or a coauthor. It should be pointed out that 1 of these articles was published 24 years ago, and the second was published 8 years ago. The utility of serological diagnosis has been well demonstrated in the research studies mentioned in my article and clinically in Massachusetts over the last 10 years.⁶ In addition, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in conjunction with the US Food and Drug Administration is actively involved in the development of a simple enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for use throughout the United States.

We need to move forward with both universal adolescent and adult tetanus toxoid, reduced diphtheria toxoid, and acellular pertussis immunization. A successful program will require booster immunizations in both adolescents and adults, because Bordetella pertussis infections are endemic in all age groups.

REFERENCES

1. Brunell PA. Pertussis vaccine for adolescents? Infect Dis Child. 2005;18 :4
2. Brunell PA. Pertussis vaccine for adolescents? Infect Dis News. 2005;18 :6
3. Cherry JD. Advocating adolescent pertussis vaccine. Infect Dis Child. 2005;18 :3
4. Brunell PA. Building a better pertussis vaccine? Infect Dis Child. 2005;18 :4 –5
5. Cherry J. The epidemiology of pertussis: a comparison of the epidemiology of the disease pertussis with the epidemiology of Bordetella pertussis infection. Pediatrics. 2005;115 :1422 –1427[Abstract/Free Full Text]
6. Marchant CD, Loughlin AM, Dett SM, et al. Pertussis in Massachusetts, 1981–1991: incidence, serologic diagnosis, and vaccine effectiveness. J Infect Dis. 1994;169 :1297 –1305[Web of Science][Medline]

---

PEDIATRICS (ISSN 1098-4275). ©2005 by the American Academy of Pediatrics

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Facebook    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

This Article Extract Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Services E-mail this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in Web of Science Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to My File Cabinet Download to citation manager Request Permissions Citing Articles Citing Articles via CrossRef Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Cherry, J. D. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Cherry, J. D. Related Collections Infectious Disease & Immunity Related AAP Red Book topics: Pertussis (Whooping Cough) Diphtheria Tetanus (Lockjaw) Social Bookmarking                         What's this?