title: Serotyping of pneumococci: evaluation of the genetic approach and performance with clinical samples.
abstract: Determination of pneumococcal serotypes depends on a successful culture and the Quellung's reaction. However, in 2006, the capsular sequences of 90 different pneumococcal capsular loci were published, thus making "genetic" serotyping via PCR possible. We wanted to determine the reliability of the published primers for the 13 serotypes included in pneumococcal conjugated vaccine 13 (PCV13) with pneumococcal isolates from Germany. We used a multiplex PCR approach and agarose gel detection of amplicons. Three hundred ninety well-characterized strains of Streptococcus pneumoniae and 46 clinical samples were used in the study. A 100% concordance was achieved between PCR and Quellung's reaction. In 7 clinical samples with a PCR positive for S. pneumoniae, we could determine a serotype included in PCV13.
authors.affiliation: Department for Infectious Diseases, Microbiology and Hygiene, University of Heidelberg, Im Neuenheimer Feld 324, D-69115 Heidelberg, Germany. Electronic address: irene.burckhardt@med.uni-heidelberg.de.
authors.forename: Irene
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Burckhardt
authors.affiliation: Department for Infectious Diseases, Microbiology and Hygiene, University of Heidelberg, Im Neuenheimer Feld 324, D-69115 Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Johanna
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Roemer
authors.affiliation: D-69115 Heidelberg.
authors.forename: Florian
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Burckhardt
authors.affiliation: Department for Infectious Diseases, Microbiology and Hygiene, University of Heidelberg, Im Neuenheimer Feld 324, D-69115 Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zimmermann
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D017931:DNA Primers; D004587:Electrophoresis, Agar Gel / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D058889:Molecular Typing; D060885:Multiplex Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods*; D011008:Pneumococcal Infections / Q000382:microbiology; D022242:Pneumococcal Vaccines; D012703:Serotyping / Q000379:methods*; D013296:Streptococcus pneumoniae / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D018074:Vaccines, Conjugate
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers; D022242:Pneumococcal Vaccines; D018074:Vaccines, Conjugate
keywords: PCR; PCV13; PCV7; Serotyping; Streptococcus pneumoniae