Evaluation of pulsed-field gel electrophoresis in epidemiological investigations of meningococcal disease outbreaks caused by Neisseria meningitidis serogroup C.

摘要: Since 1990, the frequency of Neisseria meningitidis serogroup C (NMSC) outbreaks in United States has increased. Based on multilocus enzyme electrophoresis (MEE), current molecular subtyping standard, most NMSC have been caused by isolates several closely related electrophoretic types (ETs) within ET-37 complex. We chose 66 from four well-described that occurred 1993 to 1995 evaluate potential pulsed-field gel (PFGE) identify outbreak-related specific for each and differentiate between them 50 sporadic collected during outbreak investigations or through active laboratory-based surveillance 1989 1996. tested all other methods: MEE, ribotyping (ClaI), random amplified polymorphic DNA assay (two primers), serotyping serosubtyping. Among 116 isolates, we observed 11 clusters 39 NheI PFGE patterns. Excellent correlation epidemiological data was observed, with an overall sensitivity 85% specificity 71% at 95% pattern relatedness breakpoint using either 1.5 1.0% tolerance. For analyzed outbreaks, would given public health officials additional support declaring making appropriate decisions.