Prevalence of maltose-negative Neisseria meningitidis variants during an epidemic period in Spain

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Abstract
The prevalence of maltose-negative variants of N. meningitidis in Spain from 1978-1980 was studied. Sugar utilization studies were performed with both CTA medium and Mueller-Hinton medium; bromothymol blue was used as the indicator in Mueller-Hinton medium. Of 1714 isolates of N. meningitidis recovered from the CSF or blood of patients with meningococcal infections, 64 (3.7%) were maltose-negative variants; 13 (3.3%) of the 363 isolates found in carriers had the same characteristic. All maltose-negative cultures isolated from both patients and carriers belonged to serogroup B and were resistant to sulfadiazine at a minimal inhibitory concentratin, 10 .mu.g/ml or more. Serotype 2 isolates were the most prevalent isolates in patients (68.8%), followed by nontypable isolates (20.3%). Only serotype 2 isolates (66%) and nontypable isolates (33%) were found in carriers.

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