67 Shigella strains were identified among 1125 diarrheal fecal samples (5.9%). The positive cases have been characterized by mucus, blood and leukocytes in the stool. The results showed that the proportion of S. flexneri isolates is highest (70.1%). Stool samples in which S. flexneri was detected have more mucus and blood and leukocytes per 10 fields than those seen in other groups. Meanwhile, stool samples found S. sonnei have not mucus and blood. Leukocytes in the stool were detected in the most of Shigella positive cases. We assumed that shigellosis caused by S. sonnei is milder than that caused by S. flexneri.
Shigella ; Serotyping ; epidemiology

No Abstract Available.
Animals ; Base Sequence* ; Cattle* ; Serotyping*

Vibrio vulnificus infection is one of the most fatal diseases in Korea. This study was undertaken to determine the cellular fatty acid (CFA) compositions of ninety-five clinical strains of V. vulnificus isolated from Korea during 1985-1995. We compared these results with the CFA profile of V. vulnificus in the Microbial Identification System (MIS) (CLIN library version 3.9; Microbial ID Inc., Newark, Del.), and also evaluated the MIS ability to identify V. vulnificus. Subgrouping of V. vulnificus by CFA analysis was performed and its results were compared with those of serotyping. Most of the CFAs in V. vulnificus strains were similar to the CFA profile of V. vulnificus in the MIS, but some distinctive differences were observed. First, means of two major CFAs, 16:0 and 16:1w7c, were 22.16% and 18.26% in this study, but 23.52% and 25.44% in the MIS respectively. Second, all isolates had 11:Oiso3OH, which was not present in the MIS. Eighty-five strains (89.5%) disclosed the first choice identification of V. vulnificus by the MIS, but only two strains (2.1%) were identified with SI values of 0.6. Remaining ten strains (10.5%) showed 'NO MATCH' results. Cluster analysis of CFA could separate V. vulnificus into nine subgroups, and predominant subgroups were subgroup VII (45 strains) and V (36 strains). There was heterogeny between subgroups by CFA and serotypes of V. vulnificus. The strains of 04 serotype which accounted for 80% (76/95) of the isolates were distributed into six different subgroups such as VII (40 strains), V (27 strains), III (4 strains), I (2 strains) and VI (1 strain). These showed that V. vulnificus strains isolated from Korea had different characteristics in the CFA composition in comparison with the MIS V. vulnificus library. Subgrouping by the CFA analysis might be a useful tool for the epidemiological study of V. vulnificus infection in Korea.
Korea* ; Serotyping ; Vibrio vulnificus* ; Vibrio*

BACKGROUND: Group A streptococci (GAS) cause various infections in the school children. The change of isolation rate of GAS between time interval was observed by repeated throat cultures and acquisition rate of new strain was investigated by comparing the serotypes of GAS. METHODS: Throat cultures were taken from the school children in Chungnam and Seoul. Second throat cultures were taken from 119 children in Chungnam after 1 month and from 59 children in Seoul after 4 months, who showed GAS in the first throat culture. Serotypings such as T, M and opacity factor typing were performed and compared against 40 children in Chungnam and 26 children in Seoul who grew GAS in both throat cultures. RESULTS: GAS were isolated from 57.1% (68/119) in Chungnam and 45.8% (27/59) in Seoul in the second throat culture. Different serotypes between first and second throat culture were 5 of 40 (12.5%) in Chungnam and 4 of 26 (154%) in Seoul, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Almost half of children contained GAS continuously until 4 months and acquisition rate of new serotypes was 14.0% during this time. When GAS is repeatedly isolated, serotyping was very useful to recognize whether the strain is same or not.
Child* ; Chungcheongnam-do ; Humans ; Pharynx* ; Seoul ; Serotyping

O Antigens ; immunology ; Serotyping ; Shigella flexneri ; immunology

Genes, Viral ; Rabies virus ; classification ; genetics ; Serotyping

OBJECTIVETo investigate the relationship of hepatitis C virus (HCV) serotype with genotype.

METHODSThe serotypes of HCV in the serum of 104 patients with chronic hepatitis C from 14 cities in China for which HCV genotypes were available, were determined by ELISA using Murex HCV Serotyping 1-6 Assay.

RESULTSThe serotypes of 86 (82.69 percent) of the 104 serum specimens were determined, and HCV serotypes were determined for 91 strains. Overall the concordance between hepatitis C virus serotype and genotype was 62.1 percent, and the concordance of serotype, with genotypes 1, 2 and 3 were 69.4 percent, 51.2 percent and 70.0 percent, respectively. The false-negative rate and concordance of genotype 2b was lower (54.5 percent).

CONCLUSIONThe specificity of HCV serotyping was affected by HCV strains' genotype and sometimes HCV serotype was not in concordance with genotype.

Ureaplasma urealyticum (UU) is closely related to human diseases including non-gonococcal urethritis (NGU), infertility, premature membranes and neonatal bronchopulmonary dysplasia. Researches on the pathogenicity of UU have become a hot topic in recent years, and suggest that many potential pathogenicity genes or putative pathogenicity islands are involved in its virulence. Moreover, the biovar and serum types of UU, the infection concentration and the state of the host immune system are also important to determine whether UU can cause human disease or not. In this article the recent progress of researches in the pathogenicity of UU is reviewed.
Humans ; Infertility ; microbiology ; Serotyping ; Ureaplasma urealyticum ; pathogenicity ; Urethritis ; microbiology

OBJECTIVES: Rats have been identified as primary sources of leptospires in the environment. This study aimed to characterize Leptospira species circulating among rats found in public markets in Iloilo City, Philippines.           METHODS: Dark-field microscopy was used to determine leptospire presence in tissue cultures. Isolates from the cultures were characterized via serotyping with monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies. To characterize the antibodies present in rat sera, the microscopic agglutination test (MAT) was used.                                                                            RESULTS: In this study, 19 rats were obtained from 7 markets in Iloilo City. Three(3) rats (15%.8) were found to harbor leptospires in the urinary bladder (2) and kidney (1). Serotyping of the isolates showed that they did not belong to previously reported common serovars in the Philippines such as Manilae, Losbanos, Javanica or Grippotyphosa. Using another panel of polyclonal antibodies, it was shown that the isolates belonged to serovar lcterohaemorrhagiae. The MAT results showed that 16 (84.2%) serum samples were positive for anti-Leptospira antibodies. The most common infecting serovars were Autumnails (47.4%), Pomona (42.1%) Copenhageni (36.8%), and Hebdomadis (31.6%) other infecting serovars identified were lcterohaemorrhagiae, Poi, Grippotyphosa, Patoc, and Pyrogenes.                                                                                                                                                      CONCLUSION: The results of the present study provide baseline data on the circulating leptospiral serovars in iloilo City. Results suggest the possible role of rats in disease transmission in the study areas.

OBJECTIVE: To establish and modify quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR)-based serotyping assays to distinguish 97 pneumococcal serotypes. METHODS: A database of capsular polysaccharide ( cps) loci sequences was generated, covering 97 pneumococcal serotypes. Bioinformatics analyses were performed to identify the cps loci structure and target genes related to different pneumococcal serotypes with specific SNPs. A total of 27 novel qPCR serotyping assay primers and probes were established based on qPCR, while 27 recombinant plasmids containing serotype-specific DNA sequence fragments were constructed as reference target sequences to examine the specificity and sensitivity of the qPCR assay. A panel of pneumococcal reference strains was employed to evaluate the capability of pneumococcal serotyping. RESULTS: A total of 97 pneumococcal serotyping assays based on qPCR were established and modified, which included 64 serotypes previously reported as well as an additional 33 serotypes. Twenty-seven novel qPCR serotyping target sequences were implemented in the pneumococcal qPCR serotyping system. A total of 97 pneumococcal serotypes, which included 52 individual serotypes and 45 serotypes belonging to 20 serogroups, could not be identified as individual serotypes. The sensitivity of qPCR assays based on 27 target sequences was 1-100 copies/µL. The specificity of the qPCR assays was 100%, which were tested by a panel of 90 serotypes of the pneumococcal reference strains. CONCLUSION A total of 27 novel qPCR assays were established and modified to analyze 97 pneumococcal serotypes.
Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Serotyping ; Streptococcus pneumoniae/genetics* ; Serogroup