Molecular characterization of Streptococcus agalactiae from vaginal colonization and neonatal infections: a 4-year multicenter study in Greece

Apostolos Liakopoulos; Angeliki Mavroidi; Sofia Vourli; Maria Panopoulou; Levantia Zachariadou; Stylianos Chatzipanagiotou; Iris Spiliopoulou; Loukia Zerva; Efthymia Petinaki

doi:10.1016/j.diagmicrobio.2013.12.017

Molecular characterization of Streptococcus agalactiae from vaginal colonization and neonatal infections: a 4-year multicenter study in Greece

Diagn Microbiol Infect Dis. 2014 Apr;78(4):487-90. doi: 10.1016/j.diagmicrobio.2013.12.017. Epub 2014 Jan 7.

Authors

Apostolos Liakopoulos¹, Angeliki Mavroidi¹, Sofia Vourli², Maria Panopoulou³, Levantia Zachariadou⁴, Stylianos Chatzipanagiotou⁵, Iris Spiliopoulou⁶, Loukia Zerva², Efthymia Petinaki⁷

Affiliations

¹ Department of Microbiology, University Hospital of Larissa, Larissa, Greece.
² Department of Clinical Microbiology, "ATTIKON" Hospital, University of Athens, Greece.
³ Department of Microbiology, Democritus University of Thrace, University Hospital of Alexandroupolis, Alexandroupolis, Greece.
⁴ Aghia Sophia Children's Hospital, Athens, Greece.
⁵ Department of Biopathology and Clinical Microbiology, Athens Medical School, Aeginition Hospital, Athens, Greece.
⁶ Department of Microbiology, School of Medicine, University of Patras, Greece.
⁷ Department of Microbiology, University Hospital of Larissa, Larissa, Greece; Department of Microbiology, Medical School, University of Thessaly, Biopolis, Larissa, Greece. Electronic address: petinaki@med.uth.gr.

PMID: 24503505
DOI: 10.1016/j.diagmicrobio.2013.12.017

Abstract

A multicenter collection comprising of 171 Streptococcus agalactiae isolates from pregnant women recovered between 2007 and 2010 and 46 from unmatched neonates with invasive infections was subjected to antimicrobial susceptibility testing and genetic characterization. High rates of erythromycin resistance (20.47%) were observed only in isolates from pregnant women. ST1 was dominant in the vaginal colonization, whereas the hypervirulent ST-17 clone was detected in 67.39% of neonatal infections.

Keywords: Colonization; Genetic characterization; Greece; Neonatal infections; S. agalactiae.

Publication types

Multicenter Study

MeSH terms

Carrier State / epidemiology
Carrier State / microbiology*
Female
Genotype
Greece / epidemiology
Humans
Infant, Newborn
Microbial Sensitivity Tests
Molecular Epidemiology
Molecular Typing
Pregnancy
Streptococcal Infections / epidemiology
Streptococcal Infections / microbiology*
Streptococcus agalactiae / classification*
Streptococcus agalactiae / genetics
Streptococcus agalactiae / isolation & purification
Vagina / microbiology