Unexpected isolation of Bordetella pertussis from a blood culture.

Bordetella pertussis was isolated from a culture of blood from a 31-year-old man with Wegener's granulomatosis. The organism was detected with the BACTEC 9240 system after 6 days of incubation and was confirmed as B. pertussis by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. To our knowledge, this is the first published report of the recovery of B. pertussis from blood.