Evaluation of a Cocooning Program on Infant Pertussis Infection in the Northern Territory

Abstract

AbstractSince 2008, the Northern Territory (NT) Guidelines recommended delivering dTpa vaccine to postnatal women and all other household and close infant contacts. We aim to determine whether this pertussis cocooning strategy reduced infections in young infants in the NT. Infants < 12 months of age notified with pertussis and born at times when the cocooning strategy was in place (2009–2014) were compared with infants born preintervention (2002–2007). The proportion of cases of pertussis occurring in infants < 12 months of age was significantly higher in the preintervention period (6.7%) compared with the cocooning period (3.3%, p = 0.0067).