Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-zzh7m Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T09:05:21.277Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Epidemics of serogroup A Neisseria meningitidis of subgroup III in Africa, 1989–94

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 May 2009

M. Guibourdenche ,
E. A. Høiby ,
J.-Y. Riou ,
F. Varaine ,
C. Joguet  and
D. A. Caugant
M. Guibourdenche
Affiliation:
Institut Pasteur, Paris, France
E. A. Høiby
Affiliation:
WHO Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Meningococci, National Institute of Public Health, Geitmyrsveien 75, N-0462 Oslo, Norway
J.-Y. Riou
Affiliation:
Institut Pasteur, Paris, France
F. Varaine
Affiliation:
Epicentre, Paris, France
C. Joguet
Affiliation:
Médecins Sans Frontières, Brussels, Belgium
D. A. Caugant*
Affiliation:
WHO Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Meningococci, National Institute of Public Health, Geitmyrsveien 75, N-0462 Oslo, Norway
*
* Correspondence.
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

A total of 125 strains of Neisseria meningitidis recovered in the course of outbreaks from patients with systemic disease in 11 African countries between 1989 and 1994 were analysed by serogrouping, serotyping and multilocus enzyme electrophoresis. Of the 125 patient strains 115 (92%) belonged to the clone-complex of serogroup A meningococci, designated subgroup III. Among the remaining strains, 4 were also serogroup A, but belonged to the clonal groups I and IV-1 (2 strains each), whilst 6 strains (4 serogroup C and 2 serogroup W135) represented clones of the ET-37 complex. Our results indicated that the second pandemic caused by clones of subgroup III is still spreading in Africa. Towards the West it has reached Niger, Mali, Guinea and The Gambia, and towards the South, the Central African Republic, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania and Zambia.

Type
Research Article
Information
Epidemiology & Infection , Volume 116 , Issue 2 , April 1996 , pp. 115 - 120
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1996

References

1.Lapeysonnie, L. La méningite cérébrospinale en Afrique. Bull WHO 1963; 28 (Suppl): 53–114.Google Scholar
2.Molecular epidemiology of epidemic bacterial meningitis. Rev Med Microbiol 1990; 1: 29–38.Google Scholar
3.Olyhoek, T, Crowe, BA, Achtman, M. Clonal population structure of Neisseria meningitidis serogroup A isolated from epidemics and pandemics between 1915 and 1983. Rev Infect Dis 1987; 9: 665–95.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
4.Wang, J, Caugant, DA, Li, X et al. Clonal and antigenic analysis of serogroup A Neisseria meningitidis with particular reference to epidemiological features of epidemic meningitis in China. Infect Immun 1992; 60: 5267–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
5.Achtman, M, Kusecek, B, Morelli, G et al. A comparison of the variable antigens expressed by clone IV-1 and subgroup III of Neisseria meningitidis serogroup A J Infect Dis 1992; 165: 53–68.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
6.Moore, PS, Reeves, MW, Schwartz, B, Broome, CV. Intercontinental spread of an epidemic group A Neisseria meningitidis strain. Lancet 1989; ii: 260–2.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
7.Moore, PS, Lee, LH, Telzak, EE, Ajello, GW, Broome, CV. A meningococcal carriage in travellers returning from Saudi Arabia. JAMA. 1990; 260: 2686–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
8.Jones, DM, Sutcliffe, EM. Group A meningococcal disease in England associated with the Haj. J Infect 1990; 21: 21–5.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
9.Riou, JY, Caugant, DA, Selander, RK, Poolman, JT, Guibourdenche, M, Collatz, E. Characterization of Neisseria meningitidis serogroup A strains from an outbreak in France by serotype, serosubtype, multilocus enzyme genotype and outer membrane protein pattern. Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis 1991; 10: 405–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
10.Tekle Haimanot, R, Caugant, DA, Fekadu, D et al. Characteristics of serogroup A Neisseria meningitidis responsible for an epidemic in Ethiopia.. Scand J Infect Dis 1990; 22: 171–4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
11.Salih, MAM, Danielsson, D, Bäckman, A, Caugant, DA, Achtman, M, Olc´n, P. Characterization of epidemic and non-epidemic Neisseria meningitidis serogroup A strains from Sudan and Sweden. J Clin Microbiol 1990; 28: 1711–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
12.Pinner, RW, Onyango, F, Perkins, BA et al. Epidemic meningococcal disease in Nairobi, Kenya, 1989. J Infect Dis 1992; 166: 359–64.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
13.Ajello, GW, Feeley, JC, Hayes, PS et al. Trans-Isolate medium: a new medium for primary culturing and transport of Neisseria meningitidis, Streptococcus pneumoniae, and Haemophilus influenzae. J Clin Microbiol 1984; 20: 55–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
14.Riou, JY, Guibourdenche, M. Laboratory methods: Neisseria and Branhamella. Paris: Editions Pasteur, 1993.Google Scholar
15.Vandekerkove, M, Bradstreet, P, Faucon, R, Beucali, S. Milieu de transport pour méningocoques. Ann Inst Pasteur 1967; 113: 260–3.Google Scholar
16.Caugant, DA, Høiby, EA, Magnus, P et al. Asymptomatic carriage of Neisseria meningitidis in a randomly sampled population.. J Clin Microbiol 1994; 32: 323–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
17.Wedege, E, Høiby, EA, Rosenqvist, E, Frøholm, LO. Serotyping and subtyping of Neisseria meningitidis isolates by co-agglutination, dot-blotting and ELISA. J Med Microbiol 1990; 31: 195–201.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
18.Selander, RK, Caugant, DA, Ochman, H, Musser, JM, Gilmour, MN, Whittam, TS. Methods of multilocus enzyme electrophoresis for bacterial population genetics and systematics. Appl Environ Microbiol 1986; 51: 873–84.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
19.Caugant, DA, Bol, P, Høiby, EA, Zanen, HC, Frøholm, LO. Clones of serogroup B Neisseria meningitidis causing systemic disease in the Netherlands, 1958 through 1986. J Infect Dis 1990; 162: 867–74.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
20.Wang, J, Caugant, DA, Morelli, G, Koumaré, B, Achtman, M. Antigenie and epidemiological properties of the ET-37 complex of Neisseria meningitidis. J Infect Dis 1993; 167: 1320–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
21.Guibourdenche, M, Caugant, DA, Hervé, V et al. Characteristics of serogroup A Neisseria meningitidis strains isolated in the Central African Republic in February 1992. Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis 1994; 13: 37–41.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
22.World Health Organization. Meningitis. Wkly Epidem Rec 1989; 22: 171–2.Google Scholar
23.World Health Organization. Meningitis. Wkly Epidem Rec 1989; 29: 225.Google Scholar
24.World Health Organization. Meningitis. Wkly Epidem Rec 1989; 37: 286.Google Scholar
25.Nejmi, S, Belhaj, M, Guibourdenche, M, Riou, JY. Etude de quatre vingt dix souches de Neisseria meningitidis de sérogroupe A isolées du liquide céphalorachidien (25) et du rhinopharynx (65) au Maroc (décembre 1989-avril 1990). Path Biol 1992; 40: 993–8.Google Scholar
26.World Health Organization. Meningitis. Wkly Epidem Rec 1990; 4: 26.Google Scholar
27.World Health Organization. Cerebrospinal meningitis in the Central African Republic. Wkly Epidem Rec 1992; 67: 333–40.Google Scholar
28.World Health Organization. Meningitis. Wkly Epidem Rec 1992; 43: 323.Google Scholar
29.Moore, PS. Meningococcal meningitis in sub-Saharan Africa: a model for the epidemic process.. Clin Infect Dis 1992; 14: 515–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
30.Cheesbrough, JS, Morse, AP, Green, SDR. Meningococcal meningitis and carriage in western Zaire: a hypoendemic zone related to climate? Epidemiol Infect 1995; 114: 75–92.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
31.Peltola, H. Meningococcal disease: still with us. Rev Infect Dis. 1983; 5: 71–91.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed