Characterisation of Neisseria meningitidis C strains causing two clusters in the north of Italy in 2007 and 2008

C Fazio; A Neri; T Sofia; A Carannante; M G Caporali; S Salmaso; P Mastrantonio; P Stefanelli

doi:10.2807/ese.14.16.19179-en

Surveillance and outbreak reports Open Access

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Characterisation of Neisseria meningitidis C strains causing two clusters in the north of Italy in 2007 and 2008
C Fazio¹ , A Neri¹ , T Sofia¹ , A Carannante¹ , M G Caporali² , S Salmaso² , P Mastrantonio¹ , P Stefanelli¹
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Affiliations: ¹ Department of Infectious, Parasitic and Immune-mediated Diseases, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy ² National Centre for Epidemiology, Surveillance and Health Promotion, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy

Correspondence:
P Mastrantonio
paola.mastrantonio iss.it
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Citation style for this article: Fazio C, Neri A, Sofia T, Carannante A, Caporali M G, Salmaso S, Mastrantonio P, Stefanelli P. Characterisation of Neisseria meningitidis C strains causing two clusters in the north of Italy in 2007 and 2008. Euro Surveill. 2009;14(16):pii=19179. https://doi.org/10.2807/ese.14.16.19179-en Received: 13 Nov 2008

Abstract

Two clusters of invasive meningococcal disease in the north of Italy both due to serogroup C/ST-11 clonal complex are here described. The objective of the investigation was to analyse the phenotype and the genotype of meningococci involved in the two clusters which were of national relevance due to the fatal outcome of the majority of cases (six of the total of 10 cases). All the strains were C:2a:P1.5 ST-11/ET-37 clonal complex. Two pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) and variable number tandem repeats (VNTR) profiles were identified, one for each cluster. VNTRs were different from those detected in Italy for C/ST-11 strains isolated from sporadic cases in the same period. This laboratory surveillance report highlights the importance and the crucial role of molecular characterisation to confirm the relatedness among meningococci responsible for clusters of cases.