Molecular typing of pneumococci for investigation of linked cases of invasive pneumococcal disease.
In winter 2007-2008, an outbreak of pediatric pneumonia caused by serotype 5 pneumococci was identified in a northeast London suburb. Variable number of tandem repeat analyses clustered these pneumococci from the other serotype 5 pneumococci in the United Kingdom, highlighting the importance of this discriminative typing method in supporting epidemiological investigations.
Pichon
Bruno
B
Respiratory & Systemic Infection Laboratory, Health Protection Agency Centre for Infections, 61 Colindale Avenue, London NW9 5EQ, United Kingdom. bruno.pichon@hpa.org.uk
Moyce
Laura
L
Sheppard
Carmen
C
Slack
Mary
M
Turbitt
Deborah
D
Pebody
Richard
R
Spencer
David A
DA
Edwards
Justin
J
Krahé
Daniel
D
George
Robert
R
D000328:Adult; D015373:Bacterial Typing Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D016172:DNA Fingerprinting / Q000379:methods*; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D006801:Humans; D008131:London / Q000453:epidemiology; D018598:Minisatellite Repeats; D017720:Molecular Epidemiology / Q000379:methods; D011008:Pneumococcal Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology*; D013296:Streptococcus pneumoniae / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification