Hydrocortisone in the treatment of severe pertussis (past to present)
Authors: Petrova M.S. ,   G.N.Gabrichevsky Moscow Scientific Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology, Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing, Moscow, Russian Federation, Borisova A.B. , Voronova I.S. , Borisova O.Yu. , Skirda T.A. , Leontieva N.I. , Antipyat N.A. , Samkov A.A. , Abramova E.N. ,   G.N.Gabrichevsky Moscow Scientific Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology, Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing, Moscow, Russian Federation,   G.N.Gabrichevsky Moscow Scientific Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology, Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing, Moscow, Russian Federation,   G.N.Gabrichevsky Moscow Scientific Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology, Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing, Moscow, Russian Federation,   G.N.Gabrichevsky Moscow Scientific Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology, Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing, Moscow, Russian Federation,   G.N.Gabrichevsky Moscow Scientific Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology, Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing, Moscow, Russian Federation,   Infectious Diseases Clinical Hospital No 1, Moscow, Russian Federation,   Infectious Diseases Clinical Hospital No 1, Moscow, Russian Federation,   Infectious Diseases Clinical Hospital No 1, Moscow, Russian Federation
Published: July 2024

Objective. Studying the clinical efficacy of the experimental justification of hydrocortisone use in severe pertussis. Patients and methods. The study was carried out in the State Budgetary Institution of Children's Infectious Disease Clinical Hospital No.1 of the Moscow Health Department. A total of 206 children with pertussis, aged from 0 to 3–4 months, with severe pertussis were under observation. The indication for prescribing the drug was the presence of apnea accompanied by spasmodic cough. Group I (n = 166) consisted of children who received hydrocortisone along with conventional therapy. Group II (comparison, n = 40) consisted of children who were not treated with hydrocortisone. The effect of hydrocortisone on lethal toxicity of Bordetella pertussis extract for mice was experimentally studied. Results. The clinical effect of hydrocortisone was positive. Apnea cupping was observed in 1.8 ± 0.3 days from the start of therapy compared to the control group, in which apnea persisted for 10.6 ± 1.7 days. In the experiments, lethal toxin doses for mice receiving hydrocortisone were significantly higher than for mice to which the hormone was not administered. Conclusion. Long-term clinical and experimental studies have proved the effectiveness of hydrocortisone in the therapy of respiratory rhythm disorders in children aged 0–4 months. The antitoxic effect of the natural glucocorticoid hormone hydrocortisone has been proved on the example of pertussis. Key words: pertussis, hydrocortisone, whooping cough, severity of course, clinical effect