Emergence of a new epidemic Neisseria meningitidis serogroup A Clone in the African meningitis belt: high-resolution picture of genomic changes that mediate immune evasion.

ABSTRACT: In the African "meningitis belt," outbreaks of meningococcal meningitis occur in cycles, representing a model for the role of host-pathogen interactions in epidemic processes. The periodicity of the epidemics is not well understood, nor is it currently possible to predict them. In our longitudinal colonization and disease surveys, we have observed waves of clonal replacement with the same serogroup, suggesting that immunity to noncapsular antigens plays a significant role in natural herd immunity. Here, through comparative genomic analysis of 100 meningococcal isolates, we provide a high-resolution view of the evolutionary changes that occurred during clonal replacement of a hypervirulent meningococcal clone (ST-7) by a descendant clone (ST-2859). We show that the majority of genetic chang

SUBMITTER: Lamelas A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4212839 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature