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Journal of Clinical Microbiology, April 2005, p. 1694-1698, Vol. 43, No. 4
0095-1137/05/$08.00+0 doi:10.1128/JCM.43.4.1694-1698.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
Analysis of the Genetic Structure of Nontypeable Pneumococcal Strains Isolated from Conjunctiva
Sonsoles Berrón,*
Asunción Fenoll,
Montserrat Ortega,
Noemí Arellano, and
Julio Casal
National Centre for MicrobiologyNational Institute of Health Carlos III, 28220 Majadahonda (Madrid), Spain
Received 23 April 2004/
Returned for modification 17 August 2004/
Accepted 7 October 2004
More than 50% of the nontypeable (NT) pneumococcal strains received in our laboratory for reference purposes are isolated in sporadic cases of conjunctivitis. To determine the genetic structure of the population of these NT conjunctival strains, we analyzed 75 pneumococci (40 NT and 35 typeable) isolated from conjunctivas and 30 (15 NT and 15 typeable) isolated from other sources. The NT and typeable conjunctival strains grouped in separate clusters, whereas NT and typeable pneumococci isolated from other sources were similarly distributed. NT conjunctival strains belonged to two well-differentiated clonal lineages. The first, represented by three newly described sequence types, featured fully antibiotic susceptible strains and appeared to be characteristic of conjunctival tissue; the second, represented by the previously described ST344, had a pattern of multiresistance to penicillin, tetracycline, and erythromycin and shared a genetic background with some NT strains isolated from other sources.
* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Laboratory for Pneumococci, National Centre for MicrobiologyNational Institute of Health Carlos III, 28220 Majadahonda (Madrid), Spain. Phone: 34918223620. Fax: 34915097966. E-mail: sberron{at}isciii.es.
Journal of Clinical Microbiology, April 2005, p. 1694-1698, Vol. 43, No. 4
0095-1137/05/$08.00+0 doi:10.1128/JCM.43.4.1694-1698.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
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Copyright © 2005 by the American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.