Alcalá B, Salcedo C, Arreaza L, Berrón S, Fuente L DE LA, Vázquez J A
Servicio de Bacteriología, Centro Nacional de Microbiología, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, 28220 Majadahonda, Madrid, Spain.
J Med Microbiol. 2002 Dec;51(12):1102-1106. doi: 10.1099/0022-1317-51-12-1102.
During 1996 and 1997 an epidemic wave of meningococcal disease took place in Spain. Initial studies described the antigenic expression of the epidemic strain as C:2b:P1.2,5 and proposed that it was a variant of the previously identified Spanish C:2b:non-subtypable epidemic strain. To clarify this hypothesis, 1036 C:2b:P1.2(5) and 76 C:2b:NST isolates obtained during 1992-1999 were analysed by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis. The majority of the C:2b:P1.2,5 and C:2b:P1.2 isolates showed one of two very closely related profiles. During the epidemic period, 80% of the C:2b:NST strains showed these two pulsotypes. However, before the epidemic wave, most of these C:2b:NST strains (60%) showed a profile that was found infrequently among C:2b:P1.2,5 and C:2b:P1.2 isolates. A similar evolution was observed in C:2b:P1.5 isolates. Thirty-four C:2b:P1.2(5) and 10 C:2b:NST isolates, exhibiting representative pulsotypes, were subjected to multi-locus sequence typing. Isolates belonging to both A4 and ET-37 lineages were identified. These data point to the possibility that the A4 cluster has displaced the ET-37 complex among serogroup C meningococci in Spain.
1996年至1997年期间，西班牙发生了一波脑膜炎球菌病疫情。初步研究将流行菌株的抗原表达描述为C:2b:P1.2,5，并提出它是先前鉴定的西班牙C:2b:不可分型流行菌株的一个变种。为了阐明这一假设，对1992年至1999年期间获得的1036株C:2b:P1.2(5)和76株C:2b:NST分离株进行了脉冲场凝胶电泳分析。大多数C:2b:P1.2,5和C:2b:P1.2分离株显示出两种密切相关的谱型之一。在疫情期间，80%的C:2b:NST菌株显示出这两种脉冲型。然而，在疫情波之前，这些C:2b:NST菌株中的大多数（60%）显示出一种在C:2b:P1.2,5和C:2b:P1.2分离株中很少发现的谱型。在C:2b:P1.5分离株中也观察到了类似的演变。对34株C:2b:P1.2(5)和10株C:2b:NST分离株（表现出代表性的脉冲型）进行了多位点序列分型。鉴定出属于A4和ET-37谱系的分离株。这些数据表明，在西班牙C群脑膜炎球菌中，A4簇可能已经取代了ET-37复合体。
