Geographically Diverse Clusters of Nontoxigenic Corynebacterium diphtheriae Infection, Germany, 2016-2017.

ABSTRACT: From 2016 through the middle of 2017, the German Consiliary Laboratory on Diphtheria noted an increase in nontoxigenic Corynebacterium diphtheriae isolates submitted from cities in northern Germany. Many patients for whom epidemiologic data were available were homeless, alcohol or drug abusers, or both. After performing routine diagnostics and multilocus sequence typing (MLST), we analyzed isolates of sequence type (ST) 8 and previously submitted isolates by whole-genome sequencing. Results were analyzed for phylogenetic relationship by core genome MLST (cg-MLST) and whole-genome single-nucleotide polymorphism profiles. Next-generation sequencing-based cg-MLST revealed several outbreak clusters caused by ST8; the geographic focus was in the metropolitan areas of Hamburg and Berlin. To achi

SUBMITTER: Dangel A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6038752 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature