Detection of Streptococcus pneumoniae strain cocolonization in the nasopharynx.

ABSTRACT: Colonization with more than one distinct strain of the same species, also termed cocolonization, is a prerequisite for horizontal gene transfer between pneumococcal strains that may lead to change of the capsular serotype. Capsule switch has become an important issue since the introduction of conjugated pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccines. There is, however, a lack of techniques to detect multiple colonization by S. pneumoniae strains directly in nasopharyngeal samples. Two hundred eighty-seven nasopharyngeal swabs collected during the prevaccine era within a nationwide surveillance program were analyzed by a novel technique for the detection of cocolonization, based on PCR amplification of a noncoding region adjacent to the pneumolysin gene (plyNCR) and restriction fragment length polymo

SUBMITTER: Brugger SD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2691125 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature