Emergence of new virulent Neisseria meningitidis serogroup C sequence type 11 isolates in France.

Deghmane, Ala-Eddine; Parent du Chatelet, Isabelle; Szatanik, Marek; Hong, Eva; Ruckly, Corinne; Giorgini, Dario; Lévy-Bruhl, Daniel; Alonso, Jean-Michel et al. · J Infect Dis · 2010

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

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.

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