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Experimental Human Pneumococcal Carriage
07:47

Experimental Human Pneumococcal Carriage

Published on: February 15, 2013

[Characterization of Neisseria meningitidis strains isolated from carriers]

W Grzybowska1, S Tyski

  • 1Zakład Antybiotyków i Mikrobiologii Instytutu Leków w Warszawie.

Medycyna Doswiadczalna I Mikrobiologia
|January 9, 2001
PubMed

Insights

This study tracked Neisseria meningitidis carriage in young men, finding serogroup B predominant among groupable strains. Most carrier strains were non-groupable, with specific phenotypes dominating during different trial periods.

Area of Science:

  • Microbiology
  • Epidemiology
  • Public Health

Background:

  • Neisseria meningitidis is a significant cause of bacterial meningitis and sepsis.
  • Understanding meningococcal carriage dynamics is crucial for disease prevention strategies.
  • Young adults, particularly military recruits, are a key demographic for studying meningococcal carriage.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the prevalence and characteristics of Neisseria meningitidis carriage in Polish military recruits.
  • To identify predominant serogroups and phenotypes of meningococcal strains during a longitudinal study.
  • To analyze the genetic relatedness of meningococcal isolates from carriers.

Main Methods:

  • Longitudinal carriage trials involving healthy young men over several months.
  • Isolation and characterization of Neisseria meningitidis strains from nasopharyngeal swabs.
  • Phenotypic analysis, ribotyping, and Pulsed Field Gel Electrophoresis (PFGE) for strain typing.

Main Results:

  • A total of 267 recruits were studied, with 14 teenagers also included.
  • Sixty-two percent of isolated strains were non-groupable.
  • Among groupable strains, serogroup B was most common (29.5%).
  • Specific phenotypes, NG:21:P1.7 and NG:NT:P1.5, were predominant during different trial periods.
  • Ribotyping revealed two main ribotypes for type 21 and/or subtype P1.7 strains.
  • PFGE demonstrated high similarity among consecutive isolates from the same carrier.

Conclusions:

  • Neisseria meningitidis carriage in young military recruits is characterized by a high proportion of non-groupable strains and a predominance of serogroup B among groupable strains.
  • Specific meningococcal phenotypes circulated during the study period.
  • Genetic analysis confirmed the stability of carriage strains within individual carriers over time.

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