[Isolation of Neisseria meningitidis from healthy persons in Japan].

Between September 2000 and March 2003 healthy subjects in 10 prefectures of Japan were investigated to identify carriers of Neisseria meningitidis. Twenty-five N. meningitidis strains were isolated from 5886 throat swab specimens collected from healthy persons, such as students, elderly, and foreigners. Of the 25 carriers, 9 were teenagers, 15 were in their twenties, and only one was in the fifties. The male-female ratio of the carriers was 17 to 8, showing male dominance. The serogroups of the 25 strains were B (9 strains), Y (4 strains) and non-groupable (12 strains). One of the strains was found to be deficient in gamma-glutamyl aminopeptidase activity, which is an identification marker for N. meningitidis.

[Presence of the genes regarding adherence factors of Escherichia coli isolates and a consideration of the procedure for detection of diarrheagenic strain].

Diarrheagenic Escherichia coli are differentiated from non-pathogenic members with enterotoxin production, enteroinvasiveness and serotyping. However, the serotypic members are rarely sufficient to reliably identify a strain as diarrheagenic on E. coli. Recently, there are many definite articles which the adhesive E. coli strain against intestinal epithelial cells is enterovirulent. In this study, 1,748 E. coli isolates of diarrheagenic and non-diarrheagenic categories which belonged to EHEC, ETEC, EIEC EPEC and non-EPEC were examinated by PCR method for the presence of eaeA, aggR and bfpA regarding adherence factor genes, and astA of EAST1. The strains examined were recognized to variable carrying geno-patterns, and a large number of EHEC, EPEC and non-EPEC had carried either eaeA or aggR genes. In EHEC isolates, a carrying pattern with the most high frequency was only eaeA, and this type was recognized in the isolates of serotype O157, O26 and O111. EPEC and non-EPEC isolates were recognized eaeA or aggR which harboring with astA or not. Of 508 EPEC isolates from human, a total of 137 isolates (27.0%) carried aggR, and a total of 74 isolates (14.6%) had eaeA, while of the 91 isolates from non-human were recognized aggR and eaeA with 2.2% (2 isolates) and 12.1% (11 isolates), respectively. Also, of 266 non-EPEC isolates from human, a total of 16 isolates (6.0%) carried aggR, and a total of 58 isolates (21.8%) had eaeA. On the other hand, 22 (7.0%) of 316 isolates examined from non-human had eaeA, however no isolate had aggR. Thirteen isolates of EIEC and 218 ETEC isolates were screened, and only 6 ETEC isolates had either eaeA or aggR. The astA gene was recognized in the isolates of all categories, and ETEC strains had more frequently. The bfpA gene was recognized with more frequently in a serotype O157: H45, which is obtained from human with diarrhea, however, this strain was not recognized a member of the EPEC serotype. There is no diagnostic system for the strain of E. coli that cause diarrheal diseases, therefore more laboratories are unable to identify them. The authors had confirmed which PCR technique is a useful simple and rapid method for the detection of adherence factor genes on E. coli strains. From the these results, we showed a differentiation method using PCR technique which have relation with adherence factor, enterotoxin-production and invasiveness, and we firmly believe that application of the procedure is a reasonable and useful method for the identification of diarrheagenic E. coli.