Circulation of Streptococcus pneumoniae clone Colombia 5 ST289 in nine Latin American countries.
OBJECTIVE
To determine genetic relatedness of clone Colombia(5) ST289 with invasive Streptococcus pneumoniae serotype 5 isolates recovered in nine Latin American countries.


METHODS
Forty-four invasive S. pneumoniae serotype 5 isolates recovered from children under 5 years of age in Bolivia, Chile, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, and Venezuela were studied. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis patterns of DNA treated with SmaI restriction enzyme were classified using Tenover's criteria and analyzed with the Fingerprinting II program to determine their genetic relatedness with the Colombian clone.


RESULTS
All isolates had a genetic similarity of 78.5% or more with the Colombian clone. Thirteen electrophoretic subtypes derived of pattern A were identified, and five of them (A5, A6, A8, A13, A27) comprised 61.4% of the isolates.


CONCLUSIONS
Clone Colombia(5) ST289 is disseminated in Latin America. This is important because S. pneumoniae serotype 5 frequently causes invasive disease in the region and is associated with trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole resistance.
Firacative
Carolina
C
Grupo de Microbiología, Instituto Nacional de Salud, Bogotá, Colombia.
Moreno
Jaime
J
Rosales
Patricia
P
Maldonado
Aurora
A
Sánchez
Jacqueline
J
Pesantes
Carmen
C
López
Sergio
S
de Quinzada
Markela
M
Chamorro
Gustavo
G
Morales
Sara
S
Spadola
Enza
E
Gabastou
Jean-Marc
JM
Castañeda
Elizabeth
E
D003105:Colombia; D006801:Humans; D007843:Latin America; D013296:Streptococcus pneumoniae / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification*