Laboratory diagnosis and molecularsurveillance ofBordetella pertussis This report was funded by EU4Health Programme (Grant ref101194675),coordinated by Maria KeramarouandAndreas Hoefer, European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), and produced by Alex-Mikael Barkoff,Qiushui He, University of Turku (UTU) (Turku, Finland); Sylvain Brisse, Carla Rodrigues, Valérie Bouchez, Dr ChiaraCrestani, Institut Pasteur (IP) (Paris, France); Dr Eveline Van Honacker, Dr Helena Martini, Prof Denis Pierard,Universitair Ziekenhuis Brussels (UZB) (Brussels, Belgium); Isabelle Desombere, Sciensano (SCI) (Brussels,Belgium) and Anja Berger, Andreas Sing, Bayerisches Landesamt für Gesundheit und Lebensmittelsicherheit (LGL)(Oberschleißheim, Germany). This is an updated version, based on the report published by ECDC in 2022(‘Laboratory diagnosis and molecular surveillance ofBordetella pertussis - Recommendations from ECDC’doi:10.2900/35054). The report was reviewed by Maria Keramarou, Sabrina Bacci and Andreas Hoefer (ECDC).Acknowledgements We acknowledge all colleagues who contributed to the previous version of this handbook. Disclaimer: this report was funded by the European Union. However, the views and opinions expressed are theauthors’ own and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the Health and Digital ExecutiveAgency. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for the views expressed in Suggested citation: European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. Laboratory diagnosis andmolecular surveillance ofBordetella pertussis.Stockholm: ECDC; 2026. Stockholm,June2026 ISBN: 978-92-9498-894-2doi: 10.2900/8197958Catalogue number: TQ-01-26-039-EN-N © European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, 2026Reproduction is authorised, provided the source is acknowledged Contents Abbreviations ................................................................................................................................................1Executive summary ........................................................................................................................................2What’s new in the 2026 edition ..................................................................................................................2Description of EURL-PH-DIPE .....................................................................................................................31. Introduction ..............................................................................................................................................42. Diagnostics................................................................................................................................................52.1 Nasopharyngeal sampling for culture and PCR .......................................................................................52.2 Transport of swabs for culture and PCR.................................................................................................72.3 Culture and storage.............................................................................................................................72.4 Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) for Nucleic Acid Detection ofBordetella................................................72.5 Serology.............................................................................................................................................82.5.1 Blood sampling for detection of anti-PT IgG antibodies ....................................................................82.5.2 Oral fluid sampling for detection of anti-PT IgG antibodies ...............................................................92.5.3 Recommendations and methods for serological diagnosis.................................................................92.6 Point-of-care (POC) assays...................................................................................................................92.7 Biosafety and biosecurity ...................................................................................................................103. Molecular surveillance ofB. pertussis .........................................................................................................113.1 Serotyping........................................................................................................................................113.2 Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE)................................................................................................113.3 Multi-locus Antigen Sequence Typing (MAST) ......................................................................................123.3.1 Pertussis toxin (PT) ....................................................................................................................123.3.2 The pertussis toxin promoter (ptxP) ...................................................................