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Epidemiologic Study of Shigella sonnei from Sequential Outbreaks and Sporadic Cases Using Different Typing Techniques
Author(s) -
Matsumoto Masakado,
Suzuki Yasumoto,
Saito Makoto,
Ishikawa Naohisa,
Ohta Michio
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
microbiology and immunology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.664
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1348-0421
pISSN - 0385-5600
DOI - 10.1111/j.1348-0421.1998.tb02281.x
Subject(s) - shigella sonnei , outbreak , biology , typing , shigella , microbiology and biotechnology , virology , salmonella , genetics , bacteria
We noted that eight outbreaks of Shigella sonnei from an unknown source occurred sequentially in Aichi Prefecture, Japan, between October 1992‐June 1993. For comparative purposes we analyzed 53 outbreak‐related isolates of Shigella sonnei using different subtyping methods and studied the epidemiology of the outbreaks. It appeared from our study that DNA‐based techniques such as plasmid typing and pulsed‐field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) were more useful tools for subtyping Shigella sonnei than colicin typing and the antimicrobial susceptibility test. Moreover, according to PFGE analysis, four genetically related isolates of Shigella sonnei were responsible for the eight sequential outbreaks. To further investigate the epidemiology of outbreaks, 58 sporadic isolates of Shigella sonnei from overseas travelers with shigellosis during the same period were also examined. We found that some sporadic isolates from travelers in Asia were genetically related to those of the outbreak‐related isolates, indicating that genetically related isolates prevailed in Asia during this period, probably because of the extensive movement of people or food.