Emergence of new virulent Neisseria meningitidis serogroup C sequence type 11 isolates in France.
In France, there have been variations in the incidence of invasive meningococcal infection due to serogroup C isolates. Infection peaks were observed in 1992 and 2003 that involved isolates of phenotypes C:2a:P1.5,2 and/or C:2a:P1.5, which belong to the sequence type 11 (ST-11) clonal complex. We report an emergence of isolates belonging to the ST-11 clonal complex since 2003. These isolates displayed a new phenotype, C:2a:P1.7,1, caused infections that occurred as clusters, and were associated with increased infection severity and high virulence in mice. These isolates may be responsible for a peak in the incidence of serogroup C meningococcal infection in France, for which there is no routine vaccination to date.
Invasive Bacterial Infections Unit, Neisseria Unit, and National Reference Center for Meningococci, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France.
Ala-Eddine
AE
Deghmane
Isabelle
I
Parent du Chatelet
Marek
M
Szatanik
Eva
E
Hong
Corinne
C
Ruckly
Dario
D
Giorgini
Daniel
D
Lévy-Bruhl
Jean-Michel
JM
Alonso
Muhamed-Kheir
MK
Taha
D000818:Animals; D001428:Bacterial Vaccines / Q000627:therapeutic use; D003114:Colony-Forming Units Assay; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004196:Disease Outbreaks / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005602:France / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D008585:Meningitis, Meningococcal / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000276:immunology; D008589:Meningococcal Infections / Q000453:epidemiology*; D051379:Mice; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D009345:Neisseria meningitidis / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D010641:Phenotype; D014168:Transferrin / Q000235:genetics
D001428:Bacterial Vaccines; D014168:Transferrin