This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Reprints and Permissions Copyright Information Books from ASM Press MicrobeWorld Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Taha, M.-K. Articles by Stefanelli, P. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Taha, M.-K. Articles by Stefanelli, P.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, March 2006, p. 887-892, Vol. 50, No. 3
0066-4804/06/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AAC.50.3.887-892.2006
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Interlaboratory Comparison of PCR-Based Methods for Detection of Penicillin G Susceptibility in Neisseria meningitidis

Neisseria Unit and the French National Reference Center for Meningococci, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France,¹ Department of Infectious, Parasitic, and Immune-Mediated Diseases, Istituto Superiore di Sanita, Rome, Italy,² Reference Laboratory for Neisserias, National Center for Microbiology, National Institute of Health Carlos III, Majadahonda, Madrid, Spain³

Received 15 June 2005/ Returned for modification 21 August 2005/ Accepted 11 December 2005

We carried out a study for the nonculture detection of susceptibility of Neisseria meningitis to penicillin G in three laboratories of the European Monitoring Group on Meningococci (EMGM). Thirteen clinical samples (cerebrospinal fluids) and corresponding bacterial isolates from 13 cases of invasive meningococcal infection were distributed to the three laboratories. The MICs of penicillin G were determined for the isolates. Each laboratory used an "in-house" PCR-based method to determine alterations to the penA gene, which is associated with a reduced susceptibility to penicillin G. Nucleotide sequences from the 3' end of the penA gene were also determined. We observed a good correlation between genotyping of penA and the phenotypic determination (MIC) of susceptibility to penicillin G. The results obtained by the three methods for penA in the samples correlated very well with those obtained in bacterial isolates and with sequence data. The kappa coefficient that was used to estimate the level of agreement between genotypic results varied between 0.65 and 1, indicating a good agreement. This suggests that genotyping can predict susceptibility of N. meningitidis to penicillin G. These data strongly suggest that genotyping of penA should be used to determine meningococcal susceptibility to penicillin G in culture-negative cases. Although the nucleotide sequence of penA may be the gold standard in genotyping of penA, the less expensive PCR-based approach reported in this study may be quicker when a large number of isolates and clinical samples need to be tested.

This article has been cited by other articles:

• du Plessis, M., von Gottberg, A., Cohen, C., de Gouveia, L., Klugman, K. P., for the Group for Enteric Respiratory and Meningea, (2008). Neisseria meningitidis Intermediately Resistant to Penicillin and Causing Invasive Disease in South Africa in 2001 to 2005. J. Clin. Microbiol. 46: 3208-3214 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Thulin, S., Olcen, P., Fredlund, H., Unemo, M. (2008). Combined Real-Time PCR and Pyrosequencing Strategy for Objective, Sensitive, Specific, and High-Throughput Identification of Reduced Susceptibility to Penicillins in Neisseria meningitidis. Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. 52: 753-756 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Taha, M.-K., Vazquez, J. A., Hong, E., Bennett, D. E., Bertrand, S., Bukovski, S., Cafferkey, M. T., Carion, F., Christensen, J. J., Diggle, M., Edwards, G., Enriquez, R., Fazio, C., Frosch, M., Heuberger, S., Hoffmann, S., Jolley, K. A., Kadlubowski, M., Kechrid, A., Kesanopoulos, K., Kriz, P., Lambertsen, L., Levenet, I., Musilek, M., Paragi, M., Saguer, A., Skoczynska, A., Stefanelli, P., Thulin, S., Tzanakaki, G., Unemo, M., Vogel, U., Zarantonelli, M. L. (2007). Target Gene Sequencing To Characterize the Penicillin G Susceptibility of Neisseria meningitidis. Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. 51: 2784-2792 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Thulin, S., Olcen, P., Fredlund, H., Unemo, M. (2006). Total Variation in the penA Gene of Neisseria meningitidis: Correlation between Susceptibility to {beta}-Lactam Antibiotics and penA Gene Heterogeneity.. Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. 50: 3317-3324 [Abstract] [Full Text]