Serotype Distribution, Antibiotic Susceptibility, and Genetic Relatedness of Neisseria meningitidis Strains Recently Isolated in Italy

The availability of new polysaccharide-protein conjugate vaccines against Neisseria meningitidis serogroup C prompted European National Health authorities to carefully monitor isolate characteristics. In Italy, during 1999-2001, the average incidence was 0.4 cases per 100,000 inhabitants. Serogroup...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Clinical infectious diseases 2003-02, Vol.36 (4), p.422-428
Main Authors: Mastrantonio, Paola, Stefanelli, Paola, Fazio, Cecilia, Sofia, Tonino, Neri, Arianna, LaRosa, Giuseppina, Marianelli, Cinzia, Muscillo, Michele, Caporali, Maria Grazia, Salmaso, Stefania
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Anti-Bacterial Agents - pharmacology
Antibacterial agents
Antibiotics. Antiinfectious agents. Antiparasitic agents
Biological and medical sciences
Commensals
DNA
Epidemiology
Genes, Bacterial
Humans
Incidence
Italy - epidemiology
Major Articles
Medical sciences
Meningitis, Meningococcal - epidemiology
Meningitis, Meningococcal - microbiology
Meningitis, Meningococcal - mortality
Microbial Sensitivity Tests
Neisseria
Neisseria meningitidis
Neisseria meningitidis - classification
Neisseria meningitidis - drug effects
Neisseria meningitidis - genetics
Penicillin
Penicillin Resistance
Penis
Pharmacology. Drug treatments
Phenotype
Phenotypes
Polymerase Chain Reaction
Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length
Serotyping
Surveillance
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Summary:The availability of new polysaccharide-protein conjugate vaccines against Neisseria meningitidis serogroup C prompted European National Health authorities to carefully monitor isolate characteristics. In Italy, during 1999-2001, the average incidence was 0.4 cases per 100,000 inhabitants. Serogroup B was predominant and accounted for 75% of the isolates, followed by serogroup C with 24%. Serogroup C was isolated almost twice as frequently in cases of septicemia than in cases of meningitis, and the most common phenotypes were C:2a:P1.5 and C:2b:P1.5. Among serogroup B meningococci, the trend of predominant phenotypes has changed from year to year, with a recent increase in the frequency of B:15:P1.4. Only a few meningococci had decreased susceptibility to penicillin, and, in the penA gene, all of these strains had exogenous DNA blocks deriving from the DNA of commensal Neisseria flavescens, Neisseria cinerea, and Neisseria perflava/sicca. Fluorescent amplified fragment-length polymorphism analysis revealed the nonclonal nature of the strains with decreased susceptibility to penicillin.
ISSN:1058-4838
1537-6591
DOI:10.1086/346154