title: Circumvention of herd immunity during an outbreak of meningococcal disease could be correlated to escape mutation in the porA gene of Neisseria meningitidis.
abstract: Meningococcal strains isolated during an outbreak were shown to belong to the ET-5 complex and to harbor a mutation in the VR2 region of the porA gene. They were less susceptible to the bactericidal effect of normal human serum than was the ET-5 wild-type strain. These results are of concern, as PorA is a potential target in vaccine design.
authors.affiliation: Unité des Neisseria and Centre National de Référence des Méningocoques, Institut Pasteur, 75724 Paris Cedex 15, France. mktaha@pasteur.fr
authors.forename: M K
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Taha
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bichier
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Perrocheau
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Alonso
mesh_terms: D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D005602:France / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D008589:Meningococcal Infections / Q000453:epidemiology*; D022401:Meningococcal Vaccines / Q000276:immunology; D017720:Molecular Epidemiology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009154:Mutation; D009345:Neisseria meningitidis / Q000235:genetics / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D018272:Porins / Q000235:genetics*; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D022401:Meningococcal Vaccines; D018272:Porins; C057699:porin protein, Neisseria