[Haemophilus influenzae type B: subtyping of strains isolated from respiratory infections using the outer membrane protein profiles].

Sodium dodecyl sulphate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) applied to outer membrane protein (OMP), extracted by a micromethod, was employed to subtype H. influenza b type I. A total of 37 H. influenzae b strains were isolated from children under 4 years of age, either with lower acute respiratory infection (LARI), or asymptomatic carriers matched according sex, socioeconomic level and seasonality. Twenty seven out of the 37 H. influenzae b strains belonged to biotype I. On the basis of OMP profiles, these 27 were classified into 8 subtypes (Figs. 2, 3, 4 and 5). The probability of two randomly chosen isolates having different OMP profiles was 0.733. The subtype termed "a" showed the greatest relative frequency and was detected both in invasive strains and in those isolated from throat samples of LARI cases and healthy children. The use of 14% SDS-PAGE allowed de detection either of a 51kD or a 49kD, as well as 25-40kD proteins, in a single run (Fig. 1). Most subtype profiles showed the 51 kD protein. Growth conditions and extraction of OMPs by our modified micromethod provide a single and inexpensive procedure within the means of the average clinical laboratory. Besides, this test is much less time-consuming than classical assays. Jointly, biotyping , serotyping and OMP profile determination, proved a useful epidemiological tool to survey H. influenzae b infection.