This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Lee, Y.-S.
Right arrow Articles by Tseng, Y.-H.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Lee, Y.-S.
Right arrow Articles by Tseng, Y.-H.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Journal of Clinical Microbiology, March 2005, p. 1353-1360, Vol. 43, No. 3
0095-1137/05/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JCM.43.3.1353-1360.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Molecular Epidemiology of Shigella flexneri in a Long-Stay Psychiatric Nursing Center during 2001 to 2003

Yeong-Sheng Lee,1,2 Ming-Ching Liu,1 Ching-Fen Ko,1 Cheng-Hsiung Lu,3* and Yi-Hsiung Tseng2,3*

Sixth Branch Office, Center for Disease Control, Taipei,1 Center for Research and Development, Chungtai Institute of Health Sciences and Technology,3 Institute of Molecular Biology, National Chung Hsing University, Taichung, Taiwan2

Received 4 July 2004/ Returned for modification 18 August 2004/ Accepted 22 October 2004

With six separate wards accommodating more than 1,600 patients, V Nursing Center (VNC) is a long-stay psychiatric nursing center in eastern Taiwan. During 2001 to 2003, 39 shigellosis cases occurred in VNC. Different from the notion that most cases of shigellosis are caused by Shigella sonnei, all except one of these cases were caused by S. flexneri, with the remaining one caused by an S. sonnei isolate. O-antigen serotyping showed that the 38 S. flexneri strains were of either type 1a (n = 20) or 4a (n = 18), two less prevalent serotypes in Taiwan. NotI-based pulsed-field gel electrophoresis analyses performed with 8 type 1a non-VNC strains and 9 type 4a non-VNC strains isolated from 1996 to 2003 for comparison divided the 28 type 1a strains and the 27 type 4a strains into 7 and 10 subtypes, designated subtypes P1A to P1G and subtypes P4A to P4J, respectively. Subtypes P1A and P4A, which appeared in three consecutive years in VNC as well as outside of VNC, are the most prevalent subtypes. Analyses of the relatedness of the VNC strains on the basis of the banding patterns grouped the type 1a and 4a strains into four and five clusters, respectively. All except one of the type 1a strains had 95% similarity, indicating that they had a common parent, whereas the type 4a strains had similarities that ranged from 77 to 93%, suggesting that they were of diverse origins. In two of the outbreaks, less related subtypes of the type 4a strains were found in the same VNC wards in consecutive years, suggesting the possible existence of different subtypes in VNC all the time. Antibiotic susceptibility testing showed that all except one of the S. flexneri strains were sensitive to at least seven antibiotics; the remaining isolate was sensitive to three antibiotics. The data from the latter tests should be helpful for selection of proper treatments for S. flexneri infections in Taiwan.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Center for Research and Development, Chungtai Institute of Health Sciences and Technology, Taichung 406, Taiwan. Phone: (886) 4-2239-4403. Fax: (886) 4-2287-4879. E-mail for Yi-Hsiung Tseng: yhtseng{at}chtai.ctc.edu.tw. E-mail for Cheng-Hsiung Lu: chlu{at}chtai.ctc.edu.tw.

Journal of Clinical Microbiology, March 2005, p. 1353-1360, Vol. 43, No. 3
0095-1137/05/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JCM.43.3.1353-1360.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Chiou, C.-S., Wei, H.-L., Wang, Y.-W., Liao, J.-C., Li, C.-C. (2006). Usefulness of Inter-IS1 Spacer Polymorphisms for Subtyping of Shigella sonnei Isolates. J. Clin. Microbiol. 44: 3928-3933 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Muytjens, H. L., Eggink, C. A., Dijkman, F. C. A. P., Bakkers, J. M. J. E., Melchers, W. J. G. (2006). Keratitis Due to Shigella flexneri.. J. Clin. Microbiol. 44: 2291-2294 [Abstract] [Full Text]  


Copyright © 2009 by the American Society for Microbiology.   For an alternate route to Journals.ASM.org, visit: http://intl-journals.asm.org | More Info»