title: Conventional and molecular investigation of meningococcal isolates in relation to two outbreaks in the area of Athens, Greece.
abstract: Two local outbreaks caused by serogroup B Neisseria meningitidis occurred in the Athens area of Greece during 2003. In total, 30 N. meningitidis isolates from patients and carriers, as well as sporadic cases, were investigated by conventional techniques (serogroup, serotype and serosubtype), multilocus sequence typing (MLST), analysis of variable number tandem repeats (VNTR) and random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis. Compared with the two other molecular techniques, VNTR analysis was a simple, reliable and highly discriminatory method for fine typing of meningococcal isolates, showing a good correlation with the epidemiological data for the two outbreaks analysed.
authors.affiliation: National Meningitis Reference Laboratory, National School of Public Health, Athens, Greece. gtzanakaki@nsph.gr
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Tzanakaki
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kesanopoulos
authors.forename: S P
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Yazdankhah
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Levidiotou
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kremastinou
authors.forename: D A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Caugant
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002353:Carrier State; D002648:Child; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D006115:Greece / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D008585:Meningitis, Meningococcal / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology*; D009345:Neisseria meningitidis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification*