The distribution of serogroups and multilocus sequence types (STs) in collections of disease-associated and carried meningococci from the period 1991 to 2000 in three European countries (the Czech Republic, Greece, and Norway) was investigated. A total of 314 patient isolates and 353 isolates from asymptomatic carriers were characterized. The frequency distributions of serogroups and clone complexes differed among countries and between disease and carrier isolate collections. Highly significant differentiation was seen at each housekeeping locus. A marked positive association of serogroup C with disease was evidenced. The ST-11 complex was strongly positively associated with disease; associations for other clone complexes were weaker. The genetic diversity of the clone complexes differed. A single ST dominated the ST-11 clone complex, while the ST-41/44 complex exhibited greater levels of diversity. These data robustly demonstrated differences in the distribution of meningococcal genotypes in disease and carrier isolates and among countries. Further, they indicated that differences in genotype diversity and pathogenicity exist between meningococcal clone complexes.

• MeSH
• Genetic Variation MeSH
• Genotype MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Meningococcal Infections epidemiology   microbiology   MeSH
• Neisseria meningitidis classification   genetics   isolation & purification   pathogenicity   MeSH
• Carrier State epidemiology   microbiology   MeSH
• Serotyping MeSH
• Check Tag
• Humans MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't MeSH
• Geographicals
• Czech Republic epidemiology   MeSH
• Norway epidemiology   MeSH
• Greece epidemiology   MeSH

Population and evolutionary analyses of pathogenic bacteria are frequently hindered by sampling strategies that concentrate on isolates from patients with invasive disease. This is especially so for the gram-negative diplococcus Neisseria meningitidis, a cause of septicemia and meningitis worldwide. Meningococcal isolate collections almost exclusively comprise organisms originating from patients with invasive meningococcal disease, although this bacterium is a commensal inhabitant of the human nasopharynx and very rarely causes pathological effects. In the present study, molecular biology-based techniques were used to establish the genetic relationships of 156 meningococci isolated from healthy young adults in the Czech Republic during 1993. None of the individuals sampled had known links to patients with invasive disease. Multilocus sequence typing (MLST) showed that the bacterial population was highly diverse, comprising 71 different sequence types (STs) which were assigned to 34 distinct complexes or lineages. Three previously identified hyperinvasive lineages were present: 26 isolates (17%) belonged to the ST-41 complex (lineage 3); 4 (2.6%) belonged to the ST-11 (electrophoretic type [ET-37]) complex, and 1 (0.6%) belonged to the ST-32 (ET-5) complex. The data were consistent with the view that most nucleotide sequence diversity resulted from the reassortment of alleles by horizontal genetic exchange.

• MeSH
• Adult MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Adolescent MeSH
• Neisseria meningitidis classification   genetics   MeSH
• Carrier State microbiology   MeSH
• Serotyping MeSH
• Check Tag
• Adult MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Adolescent MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't MeSH
• Geographicals
• Czech Republic MeSH

AIMS: To investigate the effects of parental smoking, socioeconomic characteristics, and indoor environment on the risk of invasive meningococcal disease in children. METHODS: Population based case-control study. A total of 68 incident cases of invasive meningococcal disease in children less than 15 years old were compared with 135 controls selected from the same school and matched for year of birth, sex, and place of residence. Information on exposures was obtained in interviews with parents. RESULTS: Invasive meningococcal disease was strongly associated with parental smoking; rate ratios adjusted for socioeconomic factors were 3.5 (95% confidence interval 1.4-8.7) for smoking of mother, 3.2 (1.5-6.9) for smoking of father, and 2.7 (1.3-5.4) for every 20 cigarettes smoked at home on an average day. The risk of the disease was strongly inversely related to maternal education and, less strongly, to ownership of a car and of a weekend house, father's education, crowding, and the number of siblings, but these associations were reduced or eliminated in multivariate models. The type of heating and cooking (used as proxies for indoor air pollution) were not associated with the disease. CONCLUSION: The risk of invasive meningococcal disease in children is strongly influenced by parental smoking and unfavourable socioeconomic circumstances.

• MeSH
• Family Characteristics MeSH
• Child MeSH
• Confidence Intervals MeSH
• Infant MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Meningococcal Infections etiology   MeSH
• Adolescent MeSH
• Multivariate Analysis MeSH
• Crowding MeSH
• Infant, Newborn MeSH
• Child, Preschool MeSH
• Risk Factors MeSH
• Parents MeSH
• Socioeconomic Factors MeSH
• Case-Control Studies MeSH
• Educational Status MeSH
• Tobacco Smoke Pollution adverse effects   MeSH
• Check Tag
• Child MeSH
• Infant MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Adolescent MeSH
• Male MeSH
• Infant, Newborn MeSH
• Child, Preschool MeSH
• Female MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't MeSH
• Names of Substances
• Tobacco Smoke Pollution MeSH

Serogroup C strains of Neisseria meningitidis were isolated from a Germany patient with severe meningococcal disease after a trip to the Czech Republic. These strains (case isolates) were characterized by classical and molecular techniques, as were other strains (carrier isolates) isolated from healthy contacts. Five of 10 carrier isolates had switched off the expression of capsular polysaccharide, as demonstrated by a serogroup-specific PCR. The two case isolates were indistinguishable by multilocus sequence typing and belonged to the ET-37 complex. The carrier isolates belonged to four different sequence types, all unrelated to that of the case strains. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis showed that the case isolates differed from reference ET-37 complex strains from the Czech Republic and Canada as well as from all the carrier isolates. The isolate from the patient's nasopharynx was indistinguishable from the blood isolate except for a 40,000-bp chromosomal deletion that had occurred during systemic spread.

• MeSH
• Genes, Bacterial MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Meningitis, Meningococcal microbiology   MeSH
• Adolescent MeSH
• Neisseria meningitidis classification   genetics   isolation & purification   MeSH
• Polymerase Chain Reaction methods   MeSH
• Carrier State microbiology   MeSH
• Parents MeSH
• Serotyping MeSH
• Check Tag
• Humans MeSH
• Adolescent MeSH
• Male MeSH
• Female MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Case Reports MeSH
• Geographicals
• Czech Republic MeSH
• Germany MeSH

Strains of Neisseria meningitidis of serogroup B isolated in the Czech Republic frequently belong to serotype 22. We analyzed the genetic relationships among strains of this serotype by using the multilocus enzyme electrophoresis technique and the polymorphism of the pilA gene. Our results indicate that these strains correspond to a highly heterogeneous population rather than to the expansion of a single clone.

• MeSH
• Alleles MeSH
• Bacterial Proteins genetics   MeSH
• DNA, Bacterial analysis   genetics   MeSH
• DNA-Binding Proteins genetics   MeSH
• Phylogeny MeSH
• Isoenzymes genetics   MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Meningococcal Infections epidemiology   genetics   immunology   MeSH
• Neisseria meningitidis enzymology   genetics   immunology   MeSH
• Polymerase Chain Reaction MeSH
• Polymorphism, Genetic MeSH
• Fimbriae Proteins * MeSH
• Check Tag
• Humans MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't MeSH
• Geographicals
• Czech Republic epidemiology   MeSH
• Names of Substances
• Bacterial Proteins MeSH
• DNA, Bacterial MeSH
• DNA-Binding Proteins MeSH
• Isoenzymes MeSH
• Fimbriae Proteins * MeSH