|
|||||
|
|
Unclassified serovars of Chlamydia trachomatis isolated from Japanese infants |
|
| Authors: | Kei Numazaki Masami Ikehata Shunzo Chiba Katsuya Suzuki Nobuo Hashimoto |
| Affiliation: | Department of Pediatrics, Sapporo Medical University School of Medicine, Sapporo;Department of Ophthalmology, Yokohama City University School of Medicine, Yokohama;Department of Veterinary Public Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan |
| Abstract: | Objective: To analyze antigenic and genetic variations of Chlamydia trachomatis among the serovars obtained from Japanese infants. Methods: The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used to amplify a large part of the major outer-membrane protein gene, and restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) was used to identify the serovars of C. trachomatis from nasopharyngeal and conjunctival swabs from Japanese infants and neonates. Results: The typing of 10 nasopharyngeal isolates gave the following results: seven E, one H, and two unclassified serovars. The typing of seven conjunctival isolates gave the following results: five D, one F, and one unclassified serovar. Reactive patterns of these unclassified strains, determined by PCR-RFLP, to monoclonal antibodies were different from those of 15 reference serovars. Conclusions: Characterization of unclassified variants will allow more detailed epidemiologic studies of perinatal C. trachomatis infections in Japan. |
| Keywords: | Chlamydia trachomatis, serovars PCR RFLP omp1 |