Caugant D A
WHO Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Meningococci, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, P.O. Box 4404, Nydalen, N-0403 Oslo, Norvège.
Bull Soc Pathol Exot. 2002 Dec;95(5):319-22.
By using the techniques of molecular biology, such as multilocus enzyme electrophoresis and multilocus sequence typing, it has been possible to identify the clones of meningococci that have been responsible for major epidemics in the world and to elucidate the routes of spread of these bacteria. Although meningococci can rearrange very rapidly their genome through the process of transformation, some clones or some groups of closely related clones have been stable and have been associated with increases of incidence of disease during decades. A clone with an epidemic potential can be disseminated globally within a few years, but the reasons for the development of an epidemic in a particular population are still not fully understood.
通过运用分子生物学技术，如多位点酶电泳和多位点序列分型，已能够鉴定出引发全球重大疫情的脑膜炎球菌克隆，并阐明这些细菌的传播途径。尽管脑膜炎球菌可通过转化过程非常迅速地重排其基因组，但一些克隆或一些密切相关的克隆群体一直保持稳定，并与数十年来疾病发病率的上升有关。具有流行潜力的克隆可在几年内传播至全球，但特定人群中暴发疫情的原因仍未完全明了。
