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Journal of Clinical Microbiology, April 2000, p. 1319-1323, Vol. 38, No. 4
0095-1137/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Evaluation of Serotype Prediction by cpsA-cpsB Gene Polymorphism in Streptococcus pneumoniae

Elliot R. Lawrence,1 Cesar A. Arias,1,dagger Brigid Duke,1 Dani Beste,2 Karen Broughton,2 Androulla Efstratiou,2 Robert C. George,2 and Lucinda M. C. Hall1,*

Department of Medical Microbiology, St. Bartholomew's and the Royal London School of Medicine and Dentistry, London E1 2AD,1 and Respiratory and Systemic Infection Laboratory, Central Public Health Laboratory, London NW9 5HT,2 United Kingdom

Received 17 August 1999/Returned for modification 11 October 1999/Accepted 3 January 2000

New pneumococcal conjugate vaccines covering a limited number of serotypes are likely to come into widespread use over the next few years. It is unknown what effect this will have on the relative importance of different serotypes as causes of pneumococcal infection. Hence, it will be important to monitor serotype prevalence before, during, and after the introduction of new vaccines. We have investigated the ability of a PCR method based on polymorphisms in two genes common to the different capsule loci to predict the serotype of 93 clinical isolates of Streptococcus pneumoniae submitted to the Central Public Health Laboratory in 1997. Of 70 isolates with vaccine serotypes, 65 were predicted to belong to the correct serotype; this number was improved to 69 with the inclusion of two additional patterns to the database. Of 23 isolates with other serotypes, 19 were correctly predicted as non-vaccine serotypes, the discrepancy lying with four isolates of 6A (non-vaccine serotype) that were indistinguishable from isolates of 6B (vaccine serotype). In situations in which culture of the organism is not feasible, this method could potentially be applicable directly to clinical specimens and could be a valuable aid to the surveillance of pneumococcal serotypes.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Medical Microbiology, St. Bartholomew's and the Royal London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Turner St., London E1 2AD, United Kingdom. Phone: 44-207-377-7259. Fax: 44-207-375-0518. E-mail: l.m.c.hall{at}mds.qmw.ac.uk.

dagger Present address: Department of Biochemistry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 1QW, United Kingdom.

Journal of Clinical Microbiology, April 2000, p. 1319-1323, Vol. 38, No. 4
0095-1137/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


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