Tryfinopoulou Kyriaki, Kesanopoulos Konstantinos, Xirogianni Athanasia, Marmaras Nektarios, Papandreou Anastasia, Papaevangelou Vassiliki, Tsolia Maria, Jasir Aftab, Tzanakaki Georgina
National Meningitis Reference Laboratory (NMRL), Dept of Public Health, National School of Public Health, Athens, Greece.
European Public Health Microbiology Training Programme (EUPHEM), European Centre For Disease Prevention and Control, Stockholm, Sweden.
PLoS One. 2016 Dec 1;11(12):e0167404. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0167404. eCollection 2016.
The aim of the study was to estimate the meningococcal carriage rate and to identify the genotypic characteristics of the strains isolated from healthy military recruits and university students in order to provide data that might increase our understanding on the epidemiology of meningococcus and obtain information which helps to evaluate the potential effects on control programs such as vaccination.
A total of 1420 oropharyngeal single swab samples were collected from military recruits and university students on voluntary basis, aged 18-26 years. New York City Medium was used for culture and the suspected N. meningitidis colonies were identified by Gram stain, oxidase and rapid carbohydrate utilization tests. Further characterisation was carried out by molecular methods (multiplex PCR, MLST, WGS).
The overall carriage rate was of 12.7%; 15% and 10.4% for recruits and university students respectively. MenB (39.4%) was the most prevalent followed by MenY (12.8%) and MenW (4.4%). Among the initial 76 Non Groupable (NG) isolates, Whole Genome Sequence Analysis (WGS) revealed that 8.3% belonged to MenE, 3.3% to MenX and 1.1% to MenZ, while, 53 strains (29.4%) were finally identified as capsule null. Genetic diversity was found among the MenB isolates, with 41/44 cc and 35 cc predominating.
Meningococcal carriage rate in both groups was lower compared to our previous studies (25% and 18% respectively) with predominance of MenB isolates. These findings, help to further our understanding on the epidemiology of meningococcal disease in Greece. Although the prevalence of carriage seems to have declined compared to our earlier studies, the predominant MenB clonal complexes (including 41/44cc and 35cc) are associated with invasive meningococcal disease.
本研究旨在估计脑膜炎球菌携带率，并确定从健康新兵和大学生中分离出的菌株的基因型特征，以便提供可能增进我们对脑膜炎球菌流行病学理解的数据，并获取有助于评估疫苗接种等防控计划潜在效果的信息。
在自愿基础上，从18至26岁的新兵和大学生中总共采集了1420份口咽单拭子样本。使用纽约市培养基进行培养，通过革兰氏染色、氧化酶和快速碳水化合物利用试验鉴定疑似脑膜炎奈瑟菌菌落。通过分子方法（多重聚合酶链反应、多位点序列分型、全基因组测序）进行进一步表征。
总体携带率为12.7%；新兵和大学生的携带率分别为15%和10.4%。B群脑膜炎球菌（39.4%）最为常见，其次是Y群（12.8%）和W群（4.4%）。在最初的76株不可分型（NG）分离株中，全基因组序列分析显示8.3%属于E群脑膜炎球菌，3.3%属于X群，1.1%属于Z群，而53株（29.4%）最终被鉴定为无荚膜型。在B群分离株中发现了遗传多样性，以41/44序列簇和35序列簇为主。
与我们之前的研究（分别为25%和18%）相比，两组的脑膜炎球菌携带率较低，且以B群分离株为主。这些发现有助于进一步增进我们对希腊脑膜炎球菌病流行病学的理解。尽管与我们早期的研究相比，携带率似乎有所下降，但主要的B群克隆复合体（包括序列簇41/44和35）与侵袭性脑膜炎球菌病相关。
