Development of a ribotyping scheme forHaemophilus influenzae type b

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Ribotyping and outer-membrane protein subtyping were used to characterise 283 consecutive isolates ofHaemophilus influenzae type b. These isolates were obtained primarily from patients with invasive disease in the UK and were received by the Public Health Laboratory Service Haemophilus Reference Laboratory prior to the implementation ofHaemophilus influenzae serotype b vaccine in the UK. A subtyping scheme using the ribotyping method is suggested. Twenty-two ribotypes are described, 14 of which were found amongst the 283 clinical isolates characterised in this study. In contrast, only four outer-membrane protein subtypes were found amongst the 283 isolates. The ribotyping profiles were further used to estimate the relatedness of isolates. The resulting dendrogram suggested a population genetic structure different from that previously described forHaemophilus influenzae type b using multi-locus enzyme electrophoresis. This study shows the value of ribotyping as a subtyping method for epidemiological studies ofHaemophilus influenzae type b. However, the further use of ribotyping for population genetic structure analysis ofHaemophilus influenzae type b may be misleading and therefore inappropriate.