Neisseria gonorrhoeae population in Arkhangelsk, Russia: phenotypic and genotypic heterogeneity

Abstract

Reliable data concerning the incidence and phenotypic and genotypic characteristics of the Neisseria gonorrhoeae population in many eastern European countries are lacking. Clinically significant N. gonorrhoeae isolates (n = 76) from 76 consecutive patients in Arkhangelsk, Russia were characterised by antimicrobial susceptibility testing, serovar determination, porB gene sequencing and N. gonorrhoeae multi-antigen sequence typing (NG-MAST). The isolates were assigned to 12 different serovars, displayed 35 divergent porB sequences, and belonged to 40 different sequence types (STs). All the serovars, but only seven of the STs, had been identified previously in other countries. Twelve ST clusters of between two and 14 isolates were identified, which indicated that many multiple transmission networks exist in Arkhangelsk. The high number of unique STs (n = 28) may be a consequence of sub-optimal diagnostic procedures, ineffective partner tracing, local emergence of new STs, import of strains via sexual tourists, or foreign travel. The N. gonorrhoeae population circulating in Arkhangelsk was highly diverse and differed from the N. gonorrhoeae populations disseminated in some western European countries. Thorough knowledge concerning the incidence of gonorrhoea, antibiotic susceptibility and other phenotypic and genotypic characteristics of the N. gonorrhoeae strains circulating in eastern Europe is crucial.

Comparison of Neisseria gonorrhoeae Multiantigen Sequence Typing and porB Sequence Analysis for Identification of Clusters of N. gonorrhoeae Isolates

“…Among isolates with identified epidemiological links, both methods were congruent with epidemiological findings. These results validate the use of porB DNA sequence analysis for epidemiological studies, in agreement with data from previous studies (1,5,8,11,13,15,(18)(19)(20)(21)23). NG-MAST further differentiated porB types due to the sequence variations present in tbpB alleles (6), which contributed to a different NG-MAST ST.…”

“…porB DNA sequence analysis is now commonly used for studying the molecular epidemiology of N. gonorrhoeae (1,9,13,15,16,19,20,23) and involves the sequencing of either the entire gene or various regions of porB (8,(17)(18)(19). The N. gonorrhoeae multiantigen sequence typing (NG-MAST) methodology, which has been applied since 2004 (2,9,13,20,21), is based on limited DNA sequence analyses of two highly polymorphic loci, porB and tbpB (11). The NG-MAST database, available online (www.ng-mast.net), allows public access for sequence submission and the assignment of sequence types either for porB or tbpB individually or for the assignment of strain types (STs) using a combination of the two loci (11).…”

Molecular Surveillance of Clinical Neisseria gonorrhoeae Isolates in Russia

“…Unfortunately, most of the STs identified in our research were newly described STs. Of 23 known STs, ST1527, ST1534, ST1544, and ST1548 had previously been detected in N. gonorrhoeae samples obtained in Arkhangelsk (35). It should be noted that the most common ST in a European population, ST225 (26), was found in one isolate from Irkutsk.…”

Evaluation of Neisseria gonorrhoeae Multiple-Locus Variable-Number Tandem-Repeat Analysis, N. gonorrhoeae Multiantigen Sequence Typing, and Full-Length porB Gene Sequence Analysis for Molecular Epidemiological Typing

“…All isolates were also genotyped using NG-MAST and by full-length porB sequencing as described previously (13,28). Accordingly, each isolate was assigned an NG-MAST sequence type (ST) and an arbitrarily defined porB ST.…”