Evaluation of asymptomatic Bordetella carriage in a convenience sample of children and adolescents in Atlanta, Georgia, United States.

Few data exist on asymptomatic carriage of Bordetella species among populations receiving acellular pertussis vaccine. We conducted a cross-sectional study among acellular-vaccinated children presenting to an emergency department. B. pertussis carriage prevalence was <1% in this population, a lower prevalence than that found in recent studies among whole-cell pertussis-vaccinated participants.