title: The establishment of Neisseria meningitidis serogroup W135 of the clonal complex ET-37/ST-11 as an epidemic clone and the persistence of serogroup A isolates in Burkina Faso.
abstract: We analyzed 48 invasive isolates of Neisseria meningitidis that were isolated from meningitis cases in Burkina Faso (April 2002 to April 2003). Thirty-nine of these isolates had the phenotype (serogroup:serotype:serosubtype) W135:2a:P1.5,2, eight isolates were A:4:P1.9 and one isolate was nongroupable:nonserotypable:nonserosubtypable. Genotyping of meningococcal isolates showed that W135 isolates belonged to the sequence type (ST)-11. The nongroupable isolate was of genogroup W135 and belonged to ST-192. Isolates of serogroup A belonged to ST-2859 (a member of the subgroup III/ST-5 clonal complex). W135 (ST-11) isolates involved in meningitis outbreaks in Burkina Faso differed from those involved in the Hajj-2000 associated outbreak by their pulsed-field gel electrophoresis profile. These data confirm the changing epidemiology of meningococcal infection in Burkina Faso with the establishment and expansion of serogroup W135 N. meningitidis strains of the ET-37/ST-11 clonal complex, as well as the emergence of a new clone within the subgroup III/ST-5 clonal complex.
authors.affiliation: Association pour l'Aide à la Médecine Préventive, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Berthe-Marie
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Njanpop-Lafourcade
authors.forename: Isabelle
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Parent du Châtelet
authors.forename: Oumar
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Sanou
authors.forename: Jean-Michel
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Alonso
authors.forename: Muhamed-Kheir
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Taha
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D015373:Bacterial Typing Techniques; D002050:Burkina Faso / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D021821:Communicable Diseases, Emerging / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology; D005260:Female; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008585:Meningitis, Meningococcal / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology; D017720:Molecular Epidemiology; D038582:Neisseria meningitidis, Serogroup W-135 / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D010641:Phenotype; D011159:Population Surveillance; D011446:Prospective Studies