Two cases of serotypeable and non-serotypeable variants of Streptococcus pneumoniae detected simultaneously during invasive disease

BMC Microbiology

Research Article

Monica Birkhead¹  Linda de Gouveia²  Mushal Allam²  Mignon du Plessis³  Nicole Wolter³  Thabo Mohale³  Kedibone M. Ndlangisa³  Anne von Gottberg³  Keith P. Klugman⁴ 

[1] Centre for Emerging and Zoonotic Diseases, National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), a division of the National Health Laboratory Service, Johannesburg, South Africa;Centre for Respiratory Diseases and Meningitis (CRDM), National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), a division of the National Health Laboratory Service, Johannesburg, South Africa;Centre for Respiratory Diseases and Meningitis (CRDM), National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), a division of the National Health Laboratory Service, Johannesburg, South Africa;School of Pathology, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa;Hubert Department of Global Health, Rollins School of Public Health, and Division of Infectious Diseases, School of Medicine, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA;

关键词: wchA;    cpsE;    Non-serotypeable;    Serotype 1;    Serotype 18C;    Pneumococcus;    Mixed culture;    South Africa;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12866-016-0745-0

 received in 2015-10-24, accepted in 2016-06-15,  发布年份 2016

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundMore than 94 serotypes of Streptococcus pneumoniae have been described to date, however the majority of disease is caused by approximately 20 serotypes. Some pneumococci do not react with commercially available antisera used for serotyping and are thus regarded as non-serotypeable (NT). These pneumococci are commonly isolated during carriage studies and very rarely cause invasive disease. Colonization may occur with more than one serotype however disease with more than one serotype is rarely detected. Thus there are limited data describing cases of pneumococcal disease caused by more than one isolate.ResultsIn two cases of invasive pneumococcal disease in South Africa, a non-serotypeable and a serotypeable isolate were co-detected during routine serotyping. A serotype 1 and 18C isolate were each co-detected with a non-serotypeable isolate in 2009 (case A) and 2010 (case B), from cerebrospinal fluid and blood, respectively. Both patients were 10–14 years old. For case A, the serotypeable isolate could not be obtained due to low representation in the mixed culture. Using electron microscopy we confirmed lack of capsule for the non-serotypeable isolates. Comparison of the case A non-serotypeable isolate with a serotype 1 genome revealed only the presence of the rhamnose biosynthesis genes (rmlA, B, C and D) in the capsular locus, all other capsular genes were absent. Nonetheless it had a multilocus sequence type (ST) associated with serotype 1 (ST217 and ribosomal ST3462) and its core genome clustered with other ST217 isolates. The case B non-serotypeable isolate had all serotype 18C capsular genes except for variation in the wchA and wze genes, compared to the 18C isolate. Both case B isolates were ST9817 and their core genomes were identical.ConclusionsThe ability of pneumococci to alter capsule production is a potential vaccine escape mechanism and therefore non-serotypeable pneumococci should be monitored as such organisms may increase under vaccine pressure.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© The Author(s). 2016