title: Rapid laboratory detection of meningococcal disease outbreaks caused by serogroup C Neisseria meningitidis.
abstract: Molecular subtyping is of significant importance to the recognition of outbreaks of meningococcal disease caused by serogroup C Neisseria meningitidis. We describe the application of multilocus variable number tandem repeat analysis (MLVA) for the molecular subtyping of N. meningitidis and compare its performance to that of pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE). For MLVA, a multiplex PCR assay targeting five variable number tandem repeat regions was developed and evaluated using a panel of sporadic and outbreak-associated serogroup C N. meningitidis isolates. MLVA was highly reproducible and provided results within 6 h. Overall, the discriminatory power of MLVA was equivalent to that of PFGE. The utilization of MLVA for subtyping N. meningitidis isolates provides a rapid and safer alternative to PFGE for identifying outbreaks of meningococcal disease. As such, it may provide public health officials with timely information that may minimize the spread of outbreak-related cases through prophylaxis.
authors.affiliation: Microbial Diseases Laboratory, California Department of Health Services, 850 Marina Bay Parkway, Richmond, CA 94804, USA. pkillora@dhs.ca.gov
authors.forename: Patrick B
authors.initials: PB
authors.lastname: Killoran
authors.forename: Janice
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: O'Connell
authors.forename: Elizabeth A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Mothershed
authors.forename: Will S
authors.initials: WS
authors.lastname: Probert
mesh_terms: D016000:Cluster Analysis; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D016521:Electrophoresis, Gel, Pulsed-Field; D006801:Humans; D008585:Meningitis, Meningococcal / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology*; D018598:Minisatellite Repeats / Q000235:genetics; D038542:Neisseria meningitidis, Serogroup C / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial