Strain variation and antigenic divergence among Bordetella pertussis circulating strains isolated from patients in Iran

In this study, clonal spread and variation ofB.pertussis virulence factor in isolated strains from Iranian patients have been analyzed. A total of 100B.pertussis isolates were obtained from Pertussis Reference Laboratory of Pasteur Institute of Iran. Real-time PCR were performed to confirm theB.pertussis strains. The genomic patterns ofB.pertussis strains were analyzed by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE). Predominant alleles of local strains wereptxP3,ptxA1,prn2,fim 2-1,fim3-2, andcya2. PFGE results showed 25 patterns clustered into 18 PFGE groups. A few similarities between the circulating isolates, vaccine, and standard strains were obtained. Significantly, 48% of the isolates showed dominant pattern with different allelic profiles from vaccine strains. According to the genomic profiles, the clonal spread was observed among the circulating strains. Predominant virulence factor profile was also comparable with other countries. It may be suggested that strain variation between vaccine and local strains may have an effect on pertussis resurgence in Iran like other parts of the world.
Source: European Journal of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases - Category: Microbiology Source Type: research