To investigate the clinical and pathogenic characteristics of Bordetella parapertussis infection.

Clinical data of the patient who was admitted to the First People’s Hospital of Tianmen City was collected, the disease course records of this patient and the laboratory isolation and identification process of the pathogenic bacteria were analyzed and the relevant literatures were reviewed.

This child, female, 1 year and 3 months old, with clinical manifestations such as cough and shortness of breath, mild inspiratory trigeminal sign, coarse breath sounds in both lungs, moderate croup and a few wet rales could be heard; laboratory examination results showed that white blood cells: 12.49 × 10⁹/L, red blood cells: 4.36 × 10¹²/L, neutrophil percentage: 58.4%, platelets: 260 × 10⁹/L, serum iron: 7.5 μmol/L, creatinine: 26.5 μmol/L, total carbon dioxide: 19.6 mmol/L, total calcium: 2.76 mmol/L, hydroxybutyate dehydrogenase: 291 U/L, lactate dehydrogenase: 310 U/L, creatine kinase isoenzyme: 25.20 U/L, creatine kinase: 308 U/L; Mycoplasma pneumoniae IgM antibody: weakly positive. The patient’s chest CT imaging showed a sheet of high-density film of the right upper lung. The sputum culture isolates were identified as Bordetella parapertussis by protein time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS). The child was discharged from hospital after anti-infection treatment.

Bordetella parapertussis infection is relatively rare, and early pathogen diagnosis is important for effective treatment.