RAPID-DETERMINATION OF OUTBREAK-RELATED STRAINS OF NEISSERIA-MENINGITIDIS BY REPETITIVE ELEMENT-BASED POLYMERASE CHAIN-REACTION GENOTYPING

Outbreaks of invasive disease caused by Neisseria meningitidis have in creased in the United States in the 1990s. Repetitive element-based po lymerase chain reaction (rep-PCR), a recently developed genotyping met hod, was used to evaluate a group of 8 outbreak-related and 35 other m eningococcal isolates previously typed by multilocus enzyme electropho resis (MLEE). All were serogroup B or C. Sets of genotypes were genera ted using primers based on either of two different repetitive sequence s. Genotype sets were analyzed in a blinded fashion. Each set correctl y identified outbreak-related isolates. Among the other 35 isolates, r ep-PCR delineated 14 and 13 strains, respectively, in the two sets of genotypes. Seventeen electrophoretic types had been delineated by MLEE . Rep-PCR holds promise as a rapid, genome-based typing method for del ineation of apparent outbreaks of meningococcal disease.