Excessive cough in kids? PGIMER experts say a rare bacterium is responsible
Clinically, the illness starts innocently enough — runny nose, watery eyes, mild fever, and what feels like an everyday cold. But then the cough digs in and refuses to leave. Thick mucus builds up, coughing fits happen in bursts, and nights become especially miserable.
New Delhi: In the last year, doctors in northern India have started noticing something odd: a lot more people, especially children, turning up with coughs that simply refuse to go away. At first glance, it looks like classic whooping cough — the kind that makes breathing tough and causes that sharp, gasping "whoop” after a coughing fit. But here’s the twist: many of these patients don’t actually have the usual culprit.
A team at PGIMER in Chandigarh has been tracking these cases for several years, and their latest findings point to a surprising shift. Instead of Bordetella pertussis, the well-known bacteria behind whooping cough, a quieter and lesser-known organism called Bordetella holmesii is now showing up in a big chunk of cases. In fact, almost four out of every ten samples they tested recently carried this less familiar bug — something doctors weren’t expecting when they began collecting respiratory samples back in 2015.
This isn’t a small issue tucked away in a lab notebook. The study, now featured in a leading infectious-diseases journal, highlights that the change became most obvious in 2023, and children between the ages of five and ten were hit hardest. It also echoes a broader trend seen in Asia, where whooping-cough-like illnesses have surged again after the pandemic dip. India alone logged millions of cases recently, while China has reported a sharp spike over the last decade.
Clinically, the illness starts innocently enough — runny nose, watery eyes, mild fever, and what feels like an everyday cold. But then the cough digs in and refuses to leave. Thick mucus builds up, coughing fits happen in bursts, and nights become especially miserable. Parents describe it as exhausting to watch, let alone experience.
What the researchers are essentially saying is this: the infection landscape is shifting, and health systems need to keep up. The vaccine and tests we rely on were designed mainly with B. pertussis in mind. If another bacteria is stepping into the spotlight, doctors and labs have to adjust their playbook so patients get the right diagnosis and care.