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To evaluate Bordetella pertussis as a cause of persistent cough in adults, we examined 201 patients who had a cough for 2-12 weeks and no pulmonary disease. We obtained the following at presentation: medical history, chest radiograph, respiratory function measurement, nasopharyngeal aspirate for polymerase chain reaction (PCR), nasopharyngeal swab specimen for culture, and a blood sample (acute serum). Four weeks later a second blood sample (convalescent serum) was obtained. Control sera were obtained from 164 age-matched healthy blood donors with no history of cough during the previous 12 weeks. Four patients were B. pertussis culture-positive; 11 (including the culture-positive patients) were B. pertussis PCR-positive; and 33, including 10 of the 11 PCR-positive patients, had serological evidence of recent B. pertussis infection. Pertussis-positive and -negative patients could not be discriminated by a history of cough. We conclude that B. pertussis infection is a common cause of persistent cough in adults. This is of concern, because these patients may be B. pertussis reservoirs from which transmission may occur to infants, in whom the disease can be devastating.

Chlamydia pneumoniae has been associated with cardiovascular diseases, and C. pneumoniae infection is treatable with macrolides. In this comparative cohort study, 634 users of macrolides and 3827 users of penicillins were identified from the Danish Health Service Registry of Prescriptions and followed up for an average of 6 months. The patients were then linked to the Regional Hospital Discharge Registry to assess the outcome of hospitalization for cardiovascular disease. In the first 3 months, the relative risk (RR) of admission for a cardiovascular disease was 0.48 (95% confidence interval, 0.27–0.88) in users of macrolides compared with users of penicillins. No difference was seen after 3 months. Interaction analyses indicated that the lower risk seen in users of macrolides could be more pronounced in patients without versus those with a previous cardiovascular disease (RR, 0.39 vs. 0.52), in patients ⩾60 versus <60 years old (RR, 0.39 vs. 0.64), and in men versus women (RR, 0.35 vs. 0.67)

The importance of interleukin (IL)-8 in the chemotactic activity of middle ear effusions (MEEs) was evaluated. There was a significantly higher IL-8 concentration in MEEs of children with acute otitis media (AOM) (n = 17; 136 ng/mL) than in children with otitis media with effusion (OME) (n = 28; 65 ng/mL). The IL-8 concentration in MEEs with bacteria (149 ng/mL) was significantly higher than in MEEs without bacteria (66 ng/mL). MEEs from children with AOM and OME had equally higher chemotactic activity than the diluent alone (23.3% and 24.8%vs. 9.2%).The chemotactic activity was not altered by the presence of bacteria nor did it correlate with IL-8 concentration. Fractionation of MEEs by gel chromatography demonstrated that the main chemotactic activity could clearly be separated from the IL-8 activity, thus excluding IL-8 as a main chemotactic component in MEEs.