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Journal of Clinical Microbiology, February 2000, p. 895-897, Vol. 38, No. 2
The Department of Biochemistry, Imperial
College of Science, Technology and Medicine, London SW7
2AZ,1 and The Centre for Tropical
Medicine, Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine, Oxford University,
John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford,3 United
Kingdom, and The Centre for Tropical
Diseases4 and Wellcome Trust Clinical
Research Unit,2 Cho Quan Hospital, and the
University of Medicine and Pharmacy,5 Ho
Chi Minh City, and Dong Thap Provincial Hospital, Cao Lanh,
Dong Thap,6 Vietnam
Received 23 July 1999/Returned for modification 8 October
1999/Accepted 13 November 1999
Multidrug-resistant Salmonella enterica serotype Typhi
isolates from four outbreaks of typhoid fever in southern Vietnam
between 1993 and 1997 were compared. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis, bacteriophage and plasmid typing, and antibiotic susceptibilities showed that independent outbreaks of multidrug-resistant typhoid fever
in southern Vietnam are caused by single bacterial strains. However,
different outbreaks do not derive from the clonal expansion of a single
multidrug-resistant serotype Typhi strain.
Typhoid fever remains endemic in
many developing countries. Multidrug resistance (MDR; resistance to
chloramphenicol, ampicillin, and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole) and
quinolone resistance in Salmonella enterica serotype Typhi
are increasing (13). In Vietnam, since the initial outbreak
of MDR serotype Typhi in Kien Giang in 1993 (12), MDR
serotype Typhi has become the norm, with over 80% of isolates having
an MDR phenotype by 1994 (21). MDR serotype Typhi could have
become established in Vietnam in a number of ways. A single MDR
bacterial clone could have spread from the original outbreak in 1993, or several different clones could have been introduced and spread.
Alternatively, resistance may have spread by genetic exchange between
serotype Typhi strains or between serotype Typhi and other members of
the family Enterobacteriaceae in normal gut flora. A
previous study in Vietnam, combining ribotyping, pulsed-field gel
electrophoresis (PFGE), and bacteriophage typing, detected a variety of
different strains and PFGE types in sporadic typhoid cases associated
with relapse (23). In Asia in general, there have been
reports describing many PFGE types in circulation (5, 9). In
Malaysia, PFGE suggested that individual outbreaks were associated with
closely related strains, whereas isolates of serotype Typhi from
sporadic cases were very diverse (17). In Papua New Guinea,
very few PFGE types are reported from sporadic cases, although this may
be related to the relatively recent introduction of typhoid fever into
this country (19). In Chile, serotype Typhi strains isolated
between 1977 and 1986 were of multiple serotype Typhi ribotypes
(2), suggesting multiple sources of infection. In this
study, we have used PFGE and other typing methods to compare serotype
Typhi clinical isolates from four outbreaks of MDR typhoid fever in
southern Vietnam. It is important to understand both the causes of
outbreaks and the mode of spread of MDR in individual areas of
endemicity if rational strategies for prevention of MDR typhoid are to
be implemented.
Seventy-five serotype Typhi isolates, from four MDR typhoid outbreaks,
were studied (20, 21; C. Parry, J. Wain, N. T. Chinh, H. Vinh, and J. J. Farrar, Letter, Lancet
351:1289, 1998). Serotype Typhi clinical isolates
were identified using Kligler iron agar slants, urea agar, Simmons
citrate agar, SIM medium, and MR test medium (all from Oxoid,
Basingstoke, United Kingdom) together with agglutination by antisera
specific for O9 and Vi antigens (Murex, Dartford, United Kingdom).
Antimicrobial sensitivity was determined on primary isolation by a
modified Bauer-Kirby method. PFGE of restriction enzyme-cleaved
serotype Typhi genomic DNA was performed using restriction enzymes
XbaI and BlnI (Boehringer Mannheim, Lewes, United
Kingdom) and the intron-encoded endonuclease I-CeuI (New
England Biolabs, Hitchin, United Kingdom). These had previously been
used to type serotype Typhi isolates from this region (23).
DNA was prepared from isolates cultured from frozen beads onto nutrient
agar (Oxoid) using the method of Liu and Sanderson (7, 8).
PFGE of chromosomal DNA fragments was carried out in gels of 1%
agarose (Boehringer Mannheim), at 6 V/cm, in 0.5× TBE buffer (0.045 M
Tris-borate, 1 mM EDTA [pH 8.0]) at 4°C, using a Bio-Rad (Hemel
Hempstead, United Kingdom) CHEF-DR II apparatus. The following
conditions were used: pulse times ramped from 10 to 50 s over
12 h, then 20 to 25 s over 8 h, then 10 to 15 s
over 8 h, and finally 2 to 10 s over 8 h (gel size, 13 by 20 cm). Similarity coefficients (F values) for PFGE
patterns were calculated using the formula F = 2nxy/(nx + ny). nx is the total
number of DNA fragments from isolate X, ny is
the total number of DNA fragments from isolate Y, and
nxy is the number of DNA fragments shared by the
two isolates. We have used definitions from the work of Tenover et al.
(16) to group PFGE patterns. The PFGE patterns were matched
to a reference library of PFGE type patterns obtained (using the same
gel conditions) from serotype Typhi strains isolated throughout Vietnam
over the last 6 years.
All studies described in this work were approved by the Ethical and
Scientific Committee of the Centre for Tropical Diseases, Ho Chi Minh
City, Vietnam.
The Department of Enteric Pathogens, Central Public Health Laboratory,
London, United Kingdom, performed phage typing. Plasmids were isolated
using the method of Kado and Liu (6). Plasmid DNA was run on
a 0.8% agarose gel (14), and the size was estimated by
comparison with marker plasmids of known size.
Details of strains and results of antimicrobial susceptibility testing,
plasmid analysis, phage typing, and PFGE patterns for the 75 serotype
Typhi isolates representative of the four typhoid outbreaks
described in this study are presented in Table 1.
0095-1137/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Epidemic Typhoid in Vietnam: Molecular Typing of
Multiple-Antibiotic-Resistant Salmonella enterica Serotype
Typhi from Four Outbreaks
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TABLE 1.
Characteristics of the isolates used in this study
The first outbreak was in Kien Giang province in the Mekong delta (KG) during April and May 1993; 3,049 people were infected (12, 20). Twenty-five serotype Typhi isolates were studied, of which 24 of 25 were MDR, all were nalidixic acid sensitive, and all were Vi phage untypeable, except one which was phage type 56. In the Cai Be outbreak (CB) in the Mekong delta between September 1993 and July 1994, some isolates were resistant to nalidixic acid (21). Nine serotype Typhi isolates were studied: all were MDR, six of nine were Nalr, and all were Vi phage untypeable. In the Thu Thiem outbreak (TT), in March and June 1994, 364 cases of typhoid fever were reported from this district on the outskirts of Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) (21). Seventeen MDR but Nals isolates of serotype Typhi were studied, and all were Vi phage type E1. Finally, a prolonged outbreak of MDR and Nalr serotype Typhi occurred in districts 6 and 8 of HCMC (D6) between November 1996 and November 1997. Twenty-four MDR serotype Typhi isolates, 20 of which were Nalr, were studied (Parry et al., Letter, 1998). Eighteen isolates were Vi phage type untypeable, four were E3, and two were E2.
PFGE was carried out using BlnI and XbaI cleavage of chromosomal DNA from all of the 75 serotype Typhi strains. The BlnI restriction enzyme, which typically produced 17 to 25 resolvable DNA fragments, was found to be slightly more discriminating than XbaI, which generated 18 to 20 resolvable DNA fragments (results not shown). However, the data obtained using both enzymes allowed similar conclusions to be drawn, and consequently, only the BlnI data are presented here. PFGE patterns of representative isolates from each outbreak are shown in Fig. 1. This was prepared by combining data from several different PFGE gels to generate a consensus pattern.
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For each outbreak, a particular PFGE pattern of serotype Typhi could be
identified as predominant. Indeed, there was a remarkable homogeneity
of PFGE patterns between the isolates from within each outbreak with,
at most, two DNA fragment differences. The similarity coefficients
(F values) from representative isolates were calculated. DNA
fragments below 49 kb were not included in order to exclude
plasmid-derived DNA fragments. For isolates within the same outbreak,
the F values were between 0.97 and 1. Each outbreak was
caused by a single clone (or very homogenous group of strains) of
serotype Typhi, in terms of chromosomal DNA restriction pattern.
F values from a representative isolate from each outbreak are presented in matrix form (Table 2).
The predominant strains isolated in the two HCMC outbreaks (TT and D6)
were indistinguishable by PFGE (F value of 1). This PFGE
pattern was termed VN3. The predominant KG outbreak pattern, designated
VN1, was closely related (three DNA fragments different) to the CB
outbreak pattern, designated VN2, and could be derived from a common
parent (F value of 0.91). One CB isolate had a VN3 PFGE
pattern typical of the HCMC types. There was no close relationship
between the rural (VN1 and VN2) and the urban (VN3) patterns
(F values of 0.47 to 0.48). I-CeuI analysis
(7) revealed that the VN1 and VN2 Mekong delta (KG and CB)
patterns were Sanderson type 3 and that the VN3 HCMC (TT and D6)
patterns were type 2. These are the most common types found worldwide
(8). All but three of the MDR isolates harbored a large
(140-MDa) plasmid, which transfers MDR to Escherichia coli
(23). An 80- to 90-MDa plasmid was present in 23 of 25 KG
isolates, 1 of 9 CB isolates, 0 of 17 TT isolates, and 22 of 24 D6
isolates.
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We have shown that different serotype Typhi isolates from within each of four outbreaks of MDR typhoid fever exhibited genetic homogeneity. These data suggest that each outbreak of MDR typhoid, in this region where typhoid is endemic, may have originated from a single source, allowing the spread of a single serotype Typhi strain. Furthermore, the four outbreaks were caused by at least three readily distinguishable PFGE types, although two of the patterns were highly related to each other. Studies have shown that the PFGE patterns associated with clearly defined typhoid outbreaks in regions where typhoid is not endemic are usually highly related and relatively stable (3, 17). As few as one or two DNA fragment differences on PFGE can occur, possibly because of the rearrangement of the serotype Typhi genome around the rrn operons (1, 11). In areas where typhoid fever is endemic, a local outbreak would be expected to occur against a diverse background of sporadic cases (2, 4, 9, 10, 17, 18), although if typhoid fever has been recently introduced into an area, the diversity may be more restricted (19). We have detected many different PFGE patterns for serotype Typhi strains isolated from southern Vietnam (23).
The data suggest that the KG and TT outbreaks were due to a common source. In KG, the strain may have originated either from a plasmid-carrying PFGE type imported with food or a case or carrier or from a local serotype Typhi strain acquiring the resistance via a plasmid from the normal gut flora. The uniform PFGE types of the D6 and CB isolates, however, could be distinguished by different phage types. Isolates in these outbreaks included a new Nalr phenotype, and selection for this phenotype may have occurred by the hospitalization of patients with a strain not responding to first-line therapy rather than by origin from a common source.
Is the HCMC PFGE type derived from the Mekong delta PFGE type? The differences between these strains give an F value of 0.47, which translates to eight to nine band differences on a gel. These differences may be due in part to a rearrangement of the genome as shown by having a different I-CeuI type, but this cannot explain the level of difference observed. It seems highly unlikely that the two outbreak strains are clonally related. The spread of MDR typhoid in Vietnam is therefore not due to a single strain. Why these two PFGE types are associated with outbreaks against a background of multiple types in sporadic cases is not clear. Higher transmission rates for MDR serotype Typhi than for sensitive strains have been demonstrated previously (22), and so it is possible that these two PFGE types have virulence-associated factors on the genome which enhance the transmission potential of these particular bacterial strains.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS |
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We thank the directors and staff of the Centre for Tropical Diseases, Dong Nai Paediatric Hospital, and Dong Thap Provincial Hospital for their support during this work.
This work was supported by The Wellcome Trust.
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FOOTNOTES |
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* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Unit, The Center for Tropical Diseases, 190 Ben Ham Tu Quan 5, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Phone: 84 8 835 3954. Fax: 84 8 835 3904. E-mail: jeremyjf{at}hcm.vnn.vn.
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