Are pertussis vaccination guidelines applied to adults and health care workers?

The prevalence of pertussis in newborns led French health authorities to recommend using a booster dose at 13 years of age, and adding a booster dose for parents, siblings, and health care workers. Objective. - The aim of the study was to check if the new recommendations were applied by health care workers and if mothers still in the maternity ward were informed and agreed with these recommendations. Method. - A questionnaire assessing knowledge, acceptance of the recommendations was sent to different health care workers and given to mothers in two maternity wards. Results. - Three hundred and seventy-five questionnaires filled out by health care workers were analyzed (298 general practitioners, 30 pediatricians. 24 obstetricians, 21 midwives) and 100 questionnaires by mothers. Only 1% of mothers and 55% of health care workers knew about the new recommendations, but only 8.3% of obstetricians and 4.8% of midwives. 92.6% of health care workers considered they were justified, but not applicable in 2 1.3%, 75% declared informing mothers systematically, and 14.5% documenting their pertussis vaccine status. The vaccination status was greater than 80% for diphterie-tetanos-polio (dTP) in health care workers, 29.5% of these workers and 49% of mothers considered being vaccinated in a near future. Conclusion. - Information. educational campaigns and specific actions are needed to apply the new recommendations which will warrant the success of targeted vaccination. in order to reduce pertussis in infants of more than six months of age. (C) 2008 Elsevier Masson SAS.