The Establishment and Diversification of Epidemic-Associated Serogroup W Meningococcus in the African Meningitis Belt, 1994 to 2012.

ABSTRACT: Epidemics of invasive meningococcal disease (IMD) caused by meningococcal serogroup A have been eliminated from the sub-Saharan African so-called "meningitis belt" by the meningococcal A conjugate vaccine (MACV), and yet, other serogroups continue to cause epidemics. Neisseria meningitidis serogroup W remains a major cause of disease in the region, with most isolates belonging to clonal complex 11 (CC11). Here, the genetic variation within and between epidemic-associated strains was assessed by sequencing the genomes of 92 N. meningitidis serogroup W isolates collected between 1994 and 2012 from both sporadic and epidemic IMD cases, 85 being from selected meningitis belt countries. The sequenced isolates belonged to either CC175 (n = 9) or CC11 (n = 83). The CC1

SUBMITTER: Retchless AC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5112335 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Nov-Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature