Genetic relationships among 80 isolates of nonencapsulated Haemophilus influenzae recovered from different disease types were determined by multilocus enzyme electrophoresis (MEE) at 13 enzyme loci in an attempt to assess the association between multilocus genotype and disease. The isolates were obtained from 15 patients with meningitis, 10 with otitis media, 19 with chronic bronchitis, 20 with cystic fibrosis, and 16 were obtained from healthy carriers. The 80 isolates were assigned to 69 electrophoretic types (ETs) falling into 5 groups. Isolates from each disease entity were represented by a variety of genotypes; however, cluster analysis from a matrix of genetic distances between ETs revealed that the ETs of the otitis media and meningitis isolates were all clustered within a genetic distance of 0∙55 (group 1). In addition, no genotypes were shared between H. influenzae carrier isolates and isolates from cases of disease. H. influenzae isolates from healthy individuals were distributed significantly differently from those from chronic bronchitis meningitis and otitis media patients. The genetic diversity (H) of carrier strains was greatest, although not statistically different from that of isolates from patients with disease. It was concluded that the genetic distribution of acute disease isolates is not random over the five ET groups, although the genetic diversity within the groups is not different. The effect of bacterial persistence in the host on the genetic diversity of H. influenzae is discussed.
CaugantD. A.,
MoccaL. F.,
FraschC. E.,
FroholmL. O.,
ZollingerW. D.,
SelanderR. K.1987; Genetic structures of Neisseria meningitidis populations in relation to serogroup, serotype, and outer membrane protein pattern.. J Bacteriol 169:2781–2792
Dirks-GoS. I. S.,
ZanenH. C.1978; Latex agglutination, counter-immunoelectrophoresis, and protein A co-agglutination in diagnosis of bacterial meningitis.. J Clin Pathol 31:1167–1171
GroeneveldK.,
van AlphenL.,
EijkP. P.,
VisschersG.,
JansenH. M.,
ZanenH. C.1990; Endogenous and exogenous reinfections by Haemophilus influenzae in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease : the effect of antibiotic treatment on persistence.. J Infect Dis 161:512–517
IstockC. A.,
DuncanK. E.,
FergusonN.,
ZhouX.1992; Sexuality in a natural population of bacteria - Bacillus subtilis challenges the clonal paradigm.. Mol Ecol 1:95–103
LenskiR. E.,
TravisanoM.1994; Dynamics of adaptation and diversification : a 10,000-generation experiment with bacterial populations.. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 91:6808–6814
LomholtH.,
van AlphenL.,
KilianM.1993; Antigenic variation of IgA1 proteases among sequential isolates of Haemophilus influenzae from healthy children and patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.. Infect Immun 61:4575–4581
MöllerL. V. M.,
RegelinkA. G.,
GrasselierH.,
Dankert-RoelseJ.,
DankertJ.,
van AlphenL.1995; Multiple Haemophilus influenzae strains and strain variants coexist in the respiratory tract of patients with cystic fibrosis.. J Infect Dis 172:1388–1392
MöllerL.,
GrasselierH.,
DankertJ.,
van AlphenL.1996; Variation in biotype of Haemophilus influenzae persisting in the respiratory tract of patients with cystic fibrosis.. J Clin Microbiol 34:1926–1929
MusserJ. M.,
BarenkampS. J.,
GranoffD. M.,
SelanderR. K.1986; Genetic relationships of serologically nontypeable and serotype b strains of Haemophilus influenzae.. Infect Immun 52:183–191
MusserJ. M.,
KrollJ. S.,
GranoffD. M.,
25 other authors.
1990; Global structure and molecular epidemiology of encapsulated Haemophilus influenzae.. Rev Infect Dis 12:75–111
PorrasO.,
CaugantD. A.,
GrayB.,
LagergardT.,
LevinB. R.,
Svanborg-EdenC.1986; Difference in structure between type b and nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae populations.. Infect Immun 53:79–89
QuentinR.,
MusserJ. M.,
MellouetM.,
SizaretP.-Y.,
SelanderR. K.,
GoudeauA.1989; Typing of urogenital, maternal, and neonatal isolates of Haemophilus influenzae and Haemophilus parainfluenzae in correlation with clinical source of isolation and evidence for a genital specificity of H. influenzae biotype IV.. J Clin Microbiol 27:2286–2294
SeifertH. S.,
WrightC. J.,
JerseA. E.,
CohenM. S.,
CannonJ. G.1994; Multiple gonococcal pilin antigenic variants are produced during experimental human infections.. J Clin Invest 93:2744–2749
SelanderR. K.,
CaugantD. A.,
OchmanH.,
MusserJ. M.,
GilmourM. N.,
WhittamT. S.1986; Methods of multilocus enzyme electrophoresis for bacterial population genetics and systematics.. Appl Environ Microbiol 51:873–884
Van AlphenL.,
RiemensT.,
PoolmanJ.,
ZanenH. C.1983; Characteristics of major outer membrane proteins of Haemophilus influenzae.. J Bacteriol 15:878–885
Van-BelkumA.,
DuimB.,
RegelinkA.,
MöllerL.,
QuintW.,
Van AlphenL.1994; Genomic DNA fingerprinting of clinical Haemophilus influenzae isolates by polymerase chain reaction amplification: comparison with major outer-membrane protein and restriction length polymorphism analysis.. J Med Microbiol 41:63–68