Bordetella parapertussis Bacteremia: Clinical Expression and Bacterial Genomics.

Whooping cough's primary etiological agent is Bordetella pertussis. The closely related Bordetella parapertussis rarely causes severe disease. Here we report an unusual case of bacteremia caused by B. parapertussis, review the literature, and characterize the genomic sequence of the bacterial isolate in comparison with B. parapertussis isolates from respiratory infections.