Open AccessDenmark 14 -230 Clone as an Increasing Cause of Pneumococcal Infection in Portugal within a Background of Diverse Serotype 19A Lineages
Author(s) -
Sandra I. Aguiar,
Francisco Pinto,
Sónia Nunes,
Isa Serrano,
José MeloCristino,
Raquel Sá-Leão,
Mário Ramirez,
Hermı́nia de Lencastre
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
journal of clinical microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.349
H-Index - 255
eISSN - 1070-633X
pISSN - 0095-1137
DOI - 10.1128/jcm.00665-09
Subject(s) - serotype , virology , clone (java method) , pneumococcal infections , streptococcus pneumoniae , biology , microbiology and biotechnology , genetics , gene , antibiotics
Pneumococci of serotype 19A are increasingly found to be the cause of infection in various geographic regions. We have characterized the serotype 19A isolates (n = 288) found among pneumococci responsible for infections (n = 1,925) and pneumococci recovered from asymptomatic carriers (n = 1,973) in Portugal between 2001 and 2006. We show that despite the existence of serotype 19A clones that have a greater potential to cause invasive disease or an enhanced colonization capacity, the lineage that is increasing as a cause of infection in Portugal is a multiresistant clone that is competent at both. The expanding Denmark(14)-230 clone found in Portugal is disseminated in other Mediterranean countries, where it is also increasingly responsible for invasive infections in both children and adults. The lineages driving the rise of serotype 19A infections in Asia and the United States (sequence type 320 [ST320] and ST199) are either absent or account for only a small proportion of isolates in Portugal. These data highlight the importance of locally circulating clones with the ability to compete in the nasopharyngeal niche in the emergence of the serotype 19A lineages which are an increasing cause of infection in various geographic regions.