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Journal of Clinical Microbiology, October 1999, p. 3210-3216, Vol. 37, No. 10
0095-1137/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

The Three Major Spanish Clones of Penicillin-Resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae Are the Most Common Clones Recovered in Recent Cases of Meningitis in Spain

Mark C. Enright,1 Asunción Fenoll,2 David Griffiths,3 and Brian G. Spratt1,*

Wellcome Trust Centre for the Epidemiology of Infectious Disease, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3FY,1 and Department of Microbiology, John Radcliffe Hospital, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 9DU,3 United Kingdom, and Laboratorio de Referencia de Neumococos, Servicio de Bacteriología, Centro Nacional de Microbiología, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, 28220 Majadahonda, Madrid, Spain2

Received 28 April 1999/Returned for modification 22 June 1999/Accepted 6 July 1999

One hundred six isolates of Streptococcus pneumoniae recovered in Spain from patients with meningitis in 1997 and 1998 were characterized by multilocus sequence typing. A heterogeneous collection of genotypes was associated with meningitis in Spain: 65 different sequence types were resolved and, even at a genetic distance of 0.43, there were 37 distinct lineages. Thirty-eight percent of the isolates, including all isolates of serotypes 6B, 9V, 14, and 23F, were resistant to penicillin, and 24% of the isolates were members of the three major Spanish penicillin-resistant or multidrug-resistant clones of serotypes 6B, 9V, and 23F or serotype variants of these clones. These three clones (MICs, 1 to 2 µg of penicillin/ml) were the most common clones associated with pneumococcal meningitis in Spain during 1997 and 1998. Only two of the other clones associated with meningitis were penicillin resistant (MICs, 0.12 to 0.5 µg/ml). One of the two most prevalent penicillin-susceptible clones causing meningitis (serotype 3) has not been detected outside of Spain, whereas the other (serotype 18C) has been recovered from patients with meningitis in the United Kingdom, The Netherlands, and Denmark. The prevalence of meningitis caused by isolates of the three major Spanish penicillin-resistant or multiply antibiotic-resistant clones, which are now globally distributed, is disturbing and clearly establishes their ability to cause life-threatening disease.


* Corresponding author. Mailing address: WTCEID, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, South Parks Rd., Oxford OX1 3FY, United Kingdom. Phone: 44-1865-281301. Fax: 44-1865-281891. E-mail: brian.spratt{at}ceid.ox.ac.uk.


Journal of Clinical Microbiology, October 1999, p. 3210-3216, Vol. 37, No. 10
0095-1137/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.



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