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Journal of Clinical Microbiology, September 2005, p. 4708-4712, Vol. 43, No. 9
0095-1137/05/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JCM.43.9.4708-4712.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Multispacer Typing of Rickettsia prowazekii Enabling Epidemiological Studies of Epidemic Typhus{dagger}

Yong Zhu,1,{ddagger} Pierre-Edouard Fournier,1,{ddagger} Hiroyuki Ogata,2 and Didier Raoult1*

Unité des Rickettsies, CNRS UMR 6020, IFR 48, Faculté de Médecine, Université de la Méditerranée, 27 Blvd. Jean Moulin, 13385 Marseille Cedex 5, France,1 Information Génomique et Structurale, CNRS UPR2589, 31 Chemin Joseph Aiguier, 13402 Marseille Cedex 20, France2

Received 1 February 2005/ Returned for modification 9 May 2005/ Accepted 10 June 2005

Currently, there is no tool for typing Rickettsia prowazekii, the causative agent of epidemic typhus, currently considered a potential bioterrorism agent, at the strain level. To test if the multispacer typing (MST) method could differentiate strains of R. prowazekii, we amplified and sequenced the 25 most variable intergenic spacers between the R. prowazekii and R. conorii genomes in five strains and 10 body louse amplicons of R. prowazekii from various geographic origins. Two intergenic spacers, i.e., rpmE/tRNAfMet and serS/virB4, were variable among tested R. prowazekii isolates and allowed identification of three and two genotypes, respectively. When the genotypes obtained from the two spacers were combined, we identified four different genotypes. MST demonstrated that several R. prowazekii strains circulated in human body lice during an outbreak of epidemic typhus in Burundi. This may help to discriminate between natural and intentional outbreaks. Our study supports the usefulness of MST as a versatile method for rickettsial strain genotyping.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Unité des Rickettsies, CNRS UMR 6020, IFR 48, Faculté de Médecine, Université de la Méditerranée, 27 Blvd. Jean Moulin, 13385 Marseille Cedex 5, France. Phone: (33) 491 38 55 17. Fax: (33) 491 38 77 72. E-mail: didier.raoult{at}medecine.univ-mrs.fr.

{dagger} In memory of Natasha Balayeva, a famous rickettsiologist and friend.

{ddagger} Y.Z. and P.-E.F. contributed equally to this work.

Journal of Clinical Microbiology, September 2005, p. 4708-4712, Vol. 43, No. 9
0095-1137/05/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JCM.43.9.4708-4712.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



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