title: Study of Corynebacterium diphtheriae strains isolated in Romania, northwestern Russia and the Republic of Moldova.
abstract: A selection of 167 Corynebacterium diphtheriae strains isolated in Romania, the Russian Federation and the Republic of Moldova were analysed by biotyping, phage typing, the toxin production test and by molecular techniques such as ribotyping, pulsed field gel electrophoresis and random amplified polymorphic DNA, in order to establish the epidemiological relatedness, genetic divergence and strain circulation within and between the bordering countries. Using a set of five digoxigenin-labeled oligonucleotides and BstEII digestion, 34 ribotypes were identified. The strains isolated in the epidemic areas (Russia and Moldova) were very closely related but different from those isolated in Romania. C1 and C5 were the main ribotypes identified in these areas. Neither ribotype was found in Romania, where the main circulating types were C3 and C7. Field inversion gel electrophoresis was more discriminative than ribotyping and revealed 54 macrorestriction profiles after SfiI restriction. Both methods showed a significant homogeneity of the strains from epidemic areas and a large diversity among the Romanian strains. Random amplification was useful as an identification method for the epidemic strains, but not for the Romanian ones which displayed a large number of amplification profiles. The phenotypic methods associated with molecular typing techniques enabled distinguishing between strains, detecting the epidemic clone, and sustaining the absence of transmission across borders.
authors.affiliation: Molecular Epidemiology Laboratory, Cantacuzino Institute, Bucharest, Romania.
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Damian
authors.forename: Francine
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Grimont
authors.forename: Olga
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Narvskaya
authors.forename: Monica
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Straut
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Surdeanu
authors.forename: Radu
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Cojocaru
authors.forename: Igor
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Mokrousov
authors.forename: Angela
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Diaconescu
authors.forename: Constantin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Andronescu
authors.forename: Anatol
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Melnic
authors.forename: Ludmila
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Mutoi
authors.forename: Patrick A D
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Grimont
mesh_terms: D015373:Bacterial Typing Techniques; D001434:Bacteriophage Typing; D003353:Corynebacterium diphtheriae / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000032:analysis; D004165:Diphtheria / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology*; D016521:Electrophoresis, Gel, Pulsed-Field; D006801:Humans; D008966:Moldova / Q000453:epidemiology; D010641:Phenotype; D019105:Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA Technique; D021521:Ribotyping; D012383:Romania / Q000453:epidemiology; D012426:Russia / Q000453:epidemiology
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial