title: Clinical and microbiological characterization of localized aggressive periodontitis: a cohort study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Localized aggressive periodontitis (LAgP) is an infectious periodontal disease which generally affects young people. Recent data suggest the involvement of different bacterial species in different populations. The causative bacterial species in Israel has never been identified despite a high prevalence of LAgP in this population. The objectives of this study were to characterize the bacterial microbiota of periodontal pockets within an Israeli LAgP population who were also clinically assessed.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty-one LAgP patients (test) and 12 chronic periodontitis patients (control) were examined. Bacterial samples were collected from periodontal pockets and analysed by both culture and polymerase chain reaction techniques. Mann-Whitney U test and chi-square test were used to compare results between the groups.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Higher levels of Parvimonas micra (>10(6) ), Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans (>10(5) ), Fusobacterium nucleatum/F. periodonticum (>10(6) ), and Tannerella forsythia (levels of 10(5) to 10(6) bacteria) were detected in the LAgP group compared to the control (p < 0.05), while levels of Porphyromonas gingivalis and Prevotella intermedia were higher in the CP group.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The characteristic periodontal bacterial flora of LAgP patients in Israel is mainly comprised of P. micra, A. actinomycetemcomitans, F. nucleatum/F. periodonticum and T. forsythia. Similar population based studies of each population will improve the quality of treatment of LAgP when individual sampling is not possible.
authors.affiliation: Melbourne Dental School, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia; Oral Ecology and Microbiology, Faculty of Dental Medicine, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel.
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Oettinger-Barak
authors.forename: M N
authors.initials: MN
authors.lastname: Sela
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sprecher
authors.forename: E E
authors.initials: EE
authors.lastname: Machtei
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D016976:Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans / Q000302:isolation & purification; D010520:Aggressive Periodontitis / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000473:pathology; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D002648:Child; D055113:Chronic Periodontitis; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003773:Dental Plaque / Q000382:microbiology; D005260:Female; D005673:Fusobacterium / Q000302:isolation & purification; D016967:Fusobacterium nucleatum / Q000302:isolation & purification; D006801:Humans; D007557:Israel; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010514:Periodontal Pocket / Q000382:microbiology*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D016966:Porphyromonas gingivalis / Q000302:isolation & purification; D018713:Prevotella intermedia / Q000302:isolation & purification; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans; clinical manifestation; localized aggressive periodontitis; periodontal microbiology; population studies