University Of Technology Sydney's Scientists Develop Better Test To Track Whopping Cough
The new test developed by the scientists of the University of Technology Sydney has provided insights into earlier epidemics involving whooping cough in Australia and the world.
University of Technology Sydney (UTS) scientists along with researchers of UNSW Sydney have developed a new genomic test to track whooping cough. The new test has reportedly offered insights into the earlier epidemics of whooping cough in Australia and the world.
Dr Laurence Luu from UTS and UNSW and Professor Ruiting Lan from UNSW led the study team and they also expect that the latest findings will help them to find out the strain responsible for the latest outbreak in Australia.
UTS Chancellor’s Research Fellow Dr Laurence Luu commented, “This study paves the way for real-time surveillance of whooping cough strains, overcoming current testing limitations. Our results provide important baseline data to understand how whooping cough has changed in Australia and could be used to help guide us through the current outbreak.”
Whooping Cough Can Last For 100 Days
The infection can have prolonged symptoms and in severe respiratory diseases, the whopping and persistent cough can last up to 100 days. It is a highly infectious situation where one infected person can spread the infection in around 17 to 18 people who are without vaccination.
Dr Luu, also an Adjunct Associate Lecturer in the UNSW School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences said, “It starts out like all your other cold and flu symptoms – runny nose, mild cough and low-grade refever, but then over time, so within about a week or two, that coughing starts to become more and more intense. It can cause coughing fits followed by a sharp inhalation of breath, which is the noticeable ‘whooping’ noise you hear.”
Dr Luu added, “Our past research suggests that whooping cough is evolving against the vaccine. Having said that, the vaccine is still very effective at protecting against serious disease.”
New Test Is Highly Sensitive
The team has developed a highly sensitive strain test where there is no need to grow bacteria and this offers a clearer insight into strains.
"Usually, to understand what strains are circulating in the community, you need to grow the bacteria, so that you have enough of it to sequence its DNA. Typically, this makes it really hard to sequence. But the method we've developed, known as mPCR sequencing assay, can directly sequence the residual whooping cough DNA leftover from a PCR test and needs as few as four copies of the bacterial DNA to work effectively. It doesn’t require us to grow the bacteria,” says Dr Luu.
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