Molecular Epidemiology of Diphtheria in Russia, 1985—1994

The largest diphtheria outbreak in the developed world since the 1960s began in the Russian federation in 1990. One hundred fifty-six Corynebacterium diphtheriae strains from throughout Russia, selected for temporal and geographic diversity, were assayed by ribotyping and multilocus enzyme electroph...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journal of infectious diseases 1996-11, Vol.174 (5), p.1064-1072
Main Authors: Popovic, Tanja, Kombarova, Svetlana Y., Reeves, Michael W., Nakao, Hiroshi, Mazurova, Izabella K., Wharton, Melinda, Wachsmuth, I. Kaye, Wenger, Jay D.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Corynebacterium diphtheriae
Corynebacterium diphtheriae - classification
Corynebacterium diphtheriae - enzymology
Corynebacterium diphtheriae - genetics
Diphtheria
Diphtheria - epidemiology
Diphtheria - microbiology
Disease outbreaks
DNA
Enzymes
Epidemics
Epidemiology
Genetic Variation
Humans
Major Articles
Molecular epidemiology
Ribotyping
Russia - epidemiology
Time Factors
Toxins
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Summary:The largest diphtheria outbreak in the developed world since the 1960s began in the Russian federation in 1990. One hundred fifty-six Corynebacterium diphtheriae strains from throughout Russia, selected for temporal and geographic diversity, were assayed by ribotyping and multilocus enzyme electrophoresis (MEE). These tests showed significant genetic diversity within the C. diphtheriae species, and ribotyping and MEE data generally correlated well with epidemiologic data. A distinct clonal group of C. diphtheriae isolates (ET 8 complex) emerged in Russia in 1990 as the current outbreak began, and as the outbreak has progressed, these organisms have made up increasingly larger proportions of the strains that are isolated. Furthermore, the main characteristic of the epidemic strains is a specific combination of ET 8 and ribotypes G1 and G4. This study confirms the epidemiologic utility of the molecular subtyping methods that detected the epidemic clone and addresses the clone's origin and relation to C. diphtheriae from throughout Russia.
ISSN:0022-1899
1537-6613
DOI:10.1093/infdis/174.5.1064