Premium
Strain differentiation of Neisseria meningitidis by small‐fragment restriction endonuclease analysis (SF‐REA)
Author(s) -
Mylvaganam HAIMA,
Gilja ODD HELGE,
Halstensen ALFRED,
HØIby E. ARNE,
Digranes ASBJØRN,
Bjorvatn BJARNE
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
apmis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.909
H-Index - 88
eISSN - 1600-0463
pISSN - 0903-4641
DOI - 10.1111/j.1699-0463.1995.tb01090.x
Subject(s) - neisseria meningitidis , ecori , restriction enzyme , microbiology and biotechnology , serology , typing , biology , strain (injury) , neisseriaceae , neisseria , restriction fragment , hindiii , virology , genetics , dna , bacteria , antibody , antibiotics , anatomy
Following an outbreak involving 3 cases of serogroup B meningococcal disease in a rural part of Western Norway, 2 clinical and 99 carrier isolates of Neisseria meningitidis were examined by small‐fragment restriction endonuclease analysis (SF‐REA) using EcoRI, to determine its potential for strain differentiation. SF‐REA characterized all isolates and provided reproducible results with acceptable inter‐clonal differentiation. The results of SF‐REA correlated well with those of serological typing and were used to determine clonal diversity and prevalence of invasive strains among the carrier isolates. SF‐REA was also useful in demonstrating acquisition of a new carrier strain after eradication of the initial strain by ofloxacin. Thirty‐one different restriction patterns/pattern complexes were recognized among the 101 isolates. The two clinical isolates had identical restriction patterns and showed 5:90% similarity to those of six carrier isolates. In three out of six apparent treatment failures, successful eradication of the original strain by ofloxacin was demonstrated by SF‐REA. SF‐REA proved valuable in strain differentiation of Neisseria meningitidis , complemented serology, and characterized all isolates which could not be typified by serology.