pertussis

Noun

pertussis (countable and uncountable, plural pertusses)

1. Whooping cough.
   • With the introduction of an improved and standardized pertussis vaccine in the 1940s, there followed a remarkable decline in pertussis in the United States, most of the Western world, and Australia, New Zealand, and Japan.1976, Charles R. Manclark, “The Current Status of Pertussis Vaccine: An Overview”, in D. Perlman, editor, Advances in Applied Microbiology, volume 20, page 1
   • Bordetella pertussis is a Gram-negative bacterial pathogen that infects the human respiratory tract, causing the disease pertussis or whooping cough.2009, Zoë E. V. Worthington, Nicholas H. Carbonetti, “18: Bordetella pertussis”, in Karl Wooldridge, editor, Bacterial Secreted Proteins: Secretory Mechanisms and Role in Pathogenesis, page 413