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Epidemiological typing of Streptococcus pneumoniae from various sources in Sweden and India using Box A PCR fingerprinting

Epidemiological typing of Streptococcus pneumoniae is essential to determine strain relatedness and also to trace resistant clones. The novel Box A PCR assay was used for characterization of S. pneumoniae isolates from two Scandinavian countries and to compare those from India on the Asian continent. In addition, the assay was employed to determine the clonality of 25 pneumococcal strains from an outbreak in a day‐care centre in Linköping, Sweden. All 25 snowed a unique pattern with 100% homology for 24 of them, thereby establishing the clonal nature of the outbreak. The pneumococcal strains involved in the outbreak belonged to serotype 9 and were resistant to penicillin, with an MIC value of 2 mg/l. Thirty‐eight genotypes were obtained when the Box A results were analysed by computer (Molecular Analyst® Software with GelCompar). The discriminatory index of the method was D=0.98, which indicates excellent performance. No major segregation of strains from the different geographical locations was observed when a lower level of similarity was used for typing (80%, 13 types). However, at the level chosen for genotyping, 95% (38 genotypes) there was a clear geographical segregation. No correlation between genotype and serotype was seen as strains from a common place of origin were most often of different serotypes. Computer‐assisted analysis of the results of Box A PCR typing facilitated the evaluation.