title: Characteristics of the Turkish isolates of Francisella tularensis.
abstract: In this study, cultures of patients with tularemia were evaluated, and antimicrobial susceptibilities of two Francisella tularensis strains were tested by disk diffusion and E-test methods. A high-resolution multiple-locus variable-number tandem repeat analysis (MLVA) comprising six variable-number tandem repeat loci was applied to elucidate the genetic relatedness among Turkish and Bulgarian isolates which were isolated in a recent outbreak. The patients were diagnosed in two outbreaks in two cities of Turkey in 2005 and 2006. A total of 16 samples from 12 patients were cultured, and PCR tests were carried out on 15 samples that were positive in five lymph node aspirates and two soft tissue aspirates. F. tularensis was isolated from the lymph nodes of two patients. Aminoglycosides, quinolones, chloramphenicole, tetracyclines, nitrofurantoin, and rifampicin inhibited growth of the isolates. The Turkish isolates appeared to share a common MLVA pattern with one of the four Bulgarian outbreak genotypes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Clinical Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, Trakya University, Edirne, Turkey. sabangurcan@trakya.edu.tr
authors.forename: Saban
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gurcan
authors.forename: Oğuz
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Karabay
authors.forename: Aynur
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Karadenizli
authors.forename: Ciğdem
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Karagol
authors.forename: Todor
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kantardjiev
authors.forename: Ivan N
authors.initials: IN
authors.lastname: Ivanov
mesh_terms: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D015373:Bacterial Typing Techniques; D002031:Bulgaria / Q000453:epidemiology; D003470:Culture Media; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D052978:Disk Diffusion Antimicrobial Tests; D005604:Francisella tularensis / Q000145:classification / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D005819:Genetic Markers; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests / Q000379:methods; D018598:Minisatellite Repeats / Q000235:genetics; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods; D014406:Tularemia / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology*; D014421:Turkey / Q000453:epidemiology
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D003470:Culture Media; D005819:Genetic Markers