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Published on: July 22, 2011
Distribution of four capsular serotypes of Enterococcus faecalis among clinical isolates from different geographical
M Hufnagel1, V J Carey, L Baldassarri
1Channing Laboratory, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
Background:
Enterococci possess capsular polysaccharide antigens that are the targets of opsonic antibodies. These antibodies are potential candidates for development as immunotherapy.
Material And Methods:
The present study analyzes the distribution of four capsular serotypes within a collection of 157 isolates of Enterococcus faecalis from four countries with different sites of clinical infection.
Results:
By using a capsular polysaccharide-specific ELISA, 42% of the isolates were grouped into one of four serogroups, and another 9% showed cross-reactivity between two serotype-specific sera. Heterogeneity of serotype distribution by both geographical origin and infection site was observed.
Conclusion:
Half of the strain collection could be typed with four serotype-specific sera. No serotype from a given country or infection site clearly predominated.
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