Bordetella pertussis Bordetella pertussis Bordetella pertussis is a Gram-negative, aerobic, pathogenic, encapsulated coccobacillus of the genus "Bordetella", and the causative agent of pertussis or whooping cough. Unlike "B. bronchiseptica", "B. pertussis" is not motile. Its virulence factors include pertussis toxin, filamentous hæmagglutinin, pertactin, fimbria, and tracheal cytotoxin. The bacterium is spread by airborne droplets; its incubation period is 9–10 days on average (range 6–20 days). Humans are the only known reservoir for "B. pertussis". The complete "B. pertussis" genome of 4,086,186 base pairs was published in 2003. Pertussis is an infection of the respiratory system characterized by a “whooping” sound when the
Anthroponotic disease Anthroponotic disease An anthroponotic disease, or anthroponosis, is an infectious disease in which a disease causing agent carried by humans is transferred to other animals. It may cause the same disease or a different disease in other animals. Since humans do not generally inflict bite wounds on other animals, the method of transmissions is always a "soft" contact such as skin to skin transmission. An example is chytridiomycosis which can be spread by humans with the fungus on their skin handling frogs with bare hands. The reverse situation, a disease transmitted from animals to humans, is known as zoonotic. It