title: Sero/subtyping of Neisseria meningitidis isolated from patients in Spain.
abstract: To know the types of meningococcal strains in Spain, we serotyped and subtyped 743 Neisseria meningitidis isolates recovered between 1990 and 1992 from patients. A great number of serogroup B, serogroup C and non-groupable meningococci reacted with the serotyping reagents while many serogroup C and non-groupable isolates did not react with the serosubtyping reagents (78.2% and 54.8% respectively); only 8.9% of serogroup B meningococci were non-subtypeable (NST). Distribution of serotypes was similar in serogroup C and in non-groupable strains. Isolates showed great variability in antigenic phenotypes (71 in serogroup B, 20 in serogroup C and 25 in non-groupable meningococci). The most frequent antigenic combinations were 4:P1.15 (39.8%) in serogroup B, 2b:NST (55.8%) in serogroup C and 2b:NST (35.6%) in non-groupable meningococci.
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Bacteriología, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Majadahonda, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Vazquez
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Marcos
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Berron
mesh_terms: D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D006801:Humans; D008589:Meningococcal Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology; D009345:Neisseria meningitidis / Q000145:classification* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D012703:Serotyping; D013030:Spain / Q000453:epidemiology