ABSTRACT
Neisseria meningitidis is a leading cause of adult meningitis worldwide. From 5 to 14 August 1996, 8 cases of meningococcal disease occurred in Corrientes city (population 306,000) in northeastern Argentina. Those infected ranged in age from 15 to 45 years (median, 18.5). To determine risk factors for infection, a case-control study was done. Infecting isolates were serogrouped and underwent phenotyping by multilocus enzyme electrophoresis (MLEE) and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE). Those infected were significantly more likely than those not infected to have had exposure to passive or active cigarette smoke or to have attended a particular disco. Isolates available from 6 case-patients were all serogroup C; all had identical MLEE and PFGE patterns. These data suggest that dance clubs or discos may be a focus of transmission of N. meningitidis among young people.
Subject(s)
Disease Outbreaks , Meningitis, Meningococcal/epidemiology , Meningococcal Infections/epidemiology , Neisseria meningitidis/isolation & purification , Adolescent , Adult , Argentina/epidemiology , Case-Control Studies , DNA, Bacterial , Dancing , Female , Humans , Male , Meningitis, Meningococcal/microbiology , Meningococcal Infections/microbiology , Middle Aged , Neisseria meningitidis/classification , Neisseria meningitidis/genetics , Tobacco Smoke PollutionSubject(s)
Buffaloes/microbiology , Enterococcus/genetics , Enterococcus/isolation & purification , Lactococcus/genetics , Lactococcus/isolation & purification , Mastitis/veterinary , Animals , Brazil/epidemiology , DNA, Bacterial/genetics , DNA, Bacterial/isolation & purification , Electrophoresis, Gel, Pulsed-Field , Female , Humans , Mastitis/epidemiology , Mastitis/microbiology , Molecular Epidemiology , Phylogeny , Species SpecificitySubject(s)
Haemophilus Infections/microbiology , Haemophilus influenzae/classification , Purpura/etiology , Bacterial Typing Techniques , Brazil , Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. , Haemophilus Infections/complications , Haemophilus influenzae/isolation & purification , Humans , United StatesABSTRACT
Brazilian purpuric fever (BPF) is a recently recognized fulminant pediatric disease characterized by fever, with rapid progression to purpura, hypotensive shock, and death. BPF is usually preceded by purulent conjunctivitis that has resolved before the onset of fever. Both the conjunctivitis and BPF are caused by Haemophilus influenzae biogroup aegyptius (formerly called H. aegyptius). Isolates from 15 BPF cases, mainly from blood or hemorrhagic cerebrospinal fluid, case-associated isolates from 42 persons in towns where BPF cases occurred, and control strains from 32 persons in towns without BPF cases were characterized biochemically, genetically, and epidemiologically. Results indicated that a single clone was responsible for all BPF cases identified in six Brazilian towns from 1984 through 1986. All of 15 (100%) case strains were the same clone as was 1 of 32 (3%) control strains (P = less than 10(-8). Isolates of the clone were preferentially intrarelated by DNA hybridization (99% relatedness, hydroxyapatite method at 60 and 75 degrees C) and were separable from other H. influenzae biogroup aegyptius strains (approximately 90% relatedness at 60 degrees C and 82% relatedness at 75 degrees C). All isolates of the BPF clone and no other strains contained a 24-megadalton plasmid of restriction endonuclease type 3031, were of a single multilocus enzyme mobility type, were of a single sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis type, and were in one of two ribosomal DNA restriction patterns. All BPF clone isolates reacted with monoclonal antibodies produced from a case strain; only 3 of 62 (5%) other strains reacted with this monoclonal antibody. Ninety percent of BPF clone strains and 27% of other strains were relatively resistant to sulfamethoxazole-trimethoprim.