1. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis as an epidemiologic tool for Neisseria gonorrhoeae: identification of clusters within serovars.
- Author
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Unemo M, Berglund T, OlcEn P, and Fredlund H
- Subjects
- Gonorrhea microbiology, Heterosexuality, Homosexuality, Humans, Neisseria gonorrhoeae isolation & purification, Prevalence, Surveys and Questionnaires, Sweden epidemiology, DNA, Bacterial analysis, Electrophoresis, Gel, Pulsed-Field, Gonorrhea epidemiology, Neisseria gonorrhoeae genetics
- Abstract
Background: The increasing incidence of gonorrhea in Sweden in 1998 was due to mostly domestic cases. Among these, two core groups were identified: homosexual men with serovar IB-2 and young heterosexuals with serovar IB-3., Goals: To explore the genetic homogeneity/heterogeneity within the predominant serovars, IB-2 and IB-3, of Neisseria gonorrhoeae in Sweden by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) and to compare these results to epidemiologic information, as well as examine the genetic diversity within and between the 25 other represented serovars of N gonorrhoeae., Study Design: By PFGE, 237 N gonorrhoeae isolates were examined, and the results were compared with epidemiologic data for the IB-2 and IB-3 isolates., Results: In 79% of the domestic IB-2 cases involving homosexuals and 66% of the domestic IB-3 cases involving young heterosexuals, the isolates were genetically indistinguishable by PFGE. A high genetic diversity was identified within and between the 27 included serovars., Conclusions: Examination by means of PFGE indicated that one N gonorrhoeae clone each of the serovars IB-2 and IB-3 created the majority of the two core groups of domestic cases.
- Published
- 2002
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