GENOMIC FINGERPRINTING OF NEISSERIA-MENINGITIDIS ASSOCIATED WITH GROUP-C MENINGOCOCCAL DISEASE IN CANADA

A single electrophoretic type (ET15) of Neisseria meningitidis has bee n associated with an increased incidence of group C meningococcal dise ase in Canada. Genomic fingerprinting through pulsed-field gel electro phoresis of chromosomal DNA was used to characterize the clonal relati onship among meningococcal isolates of different electrophoretic types and among isolates within ET15. The genomic fingerprints of the ET15 isolates, while similar as a group, were sufficiently distinct to conf irm linkage for four pairs of strains from focal outbreaks and differe d markedly from those of the other common electrophoretic types, ETS, ET9, and ET21.