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Journal of Clinical Microbiology, March 2003, p. 1285-1288, Vol. 41, No. 3
0095-1137/03/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/JCM.41.3.1285-1288.2003
Copyright © 2003, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Genotypic and Phenotypic Characteristics of Corynebacterium diphtheriae Strains Isolated from Patients in Belarus during an Epidemic Period

Belarusian Research Institute for Epidemiology and Microbiology, Minsk, Belarus,¹ Centre National de Reference pour Corynebacterium diphtheriae, Unite des Enterobacteries, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France,² PHLS/WHO Streptococcus and Diphtheria Reference Unit, Respiratory and Systemic Infection Laboratory, Central Public Health Laboratory, London, England,³ Diphtheria Laboratory, Institute Cantacuzino, Bucharest, Romania⁴

Received 16 May 2002/ Returned for modification 6 August 2002/ Accepted 4 December 2002

One hundred two Corynebacterium diphtheriae strains (93 of the gravis biotype and nine of the mitis biotype) isolated from clinical cases during the Belarus diphtheria epidemic were characterized by biotyping, toxigenicity testing by the Elek test and an indirect hemagglutination assay, phage typing, and ribotyping. The gravis biotype strains were characterized as high and medium toxin producers, and strains of biotype mitis were characterized as low and medium toxin producers. Most strains (82 of 102) were distributed among five phage types. Seventy-two strains (64 of the gravis biotype and 8 of the mitis biotype) belonged to phage type VI ls5,34add. Hybridization of genomic DNA digested with BstEII and PvuII revealed five ribotype patterns, namely, D1, D4, D6, D7, and D13. The majority of gravis biotype strains belonged to ribotypes D1 (49 of 93) and D4 (33 of 93) and included one clonal group of C. diphtheriae. This clone predominated in all regions in Belarus. There was a statistical association between ribotypes and phage types but not between ribotypes and levels of toxin production.

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