Genotypic and phenotypic characteristics of Corynebacterium diphtheriae strains isolated from patients in belarus during an epidemic period.
One hundred two Corynebacterium diphtheriae strains (93 of the gravis biotype and nine of the mitis biotype) isolated from clinical cases during the Belarus diphtheria epidemic were characterized by biotyping, toxigenicity testing by the Elek test and an indirect hemagglutination assay, phage typing, and ribotyping. The gravis biotype strains were characterized as high and medium toxin producers, and strains of biotype mitis were characterized as low and medium toxin producers. Most strains (82 of 102) were distributed among five phage types. Seventy-two strains (64 of the gravis biotype and 8 of the mitis biotype) belonged to phage type VI ls5,34add. Hybridization of genomic DNA digested with BstEII and PvuII revealed five ribotype patterns, namely, D1, D4, D6, D7, and D13. The majority of gravis biotype strains belonged to ribotypes D1 (49 of 93) and D4 (33 of 93) and included one clonal group of C. diphtheriae. This clone predominated in all regions in Belarus. There was a statistical association between ribotypes and phage types but not between ribotypes and levels of toxin production.
Titov
Leonid
L
Belarusian Research Institute for Epidemiology and Microbiology, Minsk, Belarus, France. titov@briem.ac.by
Kolodkina
Valentina
V
Dronina
Alina
A
Grimont
Francine
F
Grimont
Patrick A D
PA
Lejay-Collin
Monique
M
de Zoysa
Aruni
A
Andronescu
Constantin
C
Diaconescu
Angela
A
Marin
Byanca
B
Efstratiou
Androulla
A
D015373:Bacterial Typing Techniques; D001434:Bacteriophage Typing; D003353:Corynebacterium diphtheriae / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000378:metabolism; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000032:analysis; D004165:Diphtheria / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology*; D004167:Diphtheria Toxin / Q000378:metabolism; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D010641:Phenotype; D002094:Republic of Belarus / Q000453:epidemiology; D021521:Ribotyping; D013223:Statistics as Topic
D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D004167:Diphtheria Toxin