Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2013 May;51(5):1402-7.
doi: 10.1128/JCM.02880-12. Epub 2013 Feb 13.

Molecular characterization of Streptococcus pneumoniae serotype 12F isolates associated with rural community outbreaks in Alaska

Tammy Zulz  1 , Jay D Wenger, Karen Rudolph, D Ashley Robinson, Alexey V Rakov, Dana Bruden, Rosalyn J Singleton, Michael G Bruce, Thomas W Hennessy
Affiliations

Molecular characterization of Streptococcus pneumoniae serotype 12F isolates associated with rural community outbreaks in Alaska

Tammy Zulz et al. J Clin Microbiol. 2013 May.

Abstract

Outbreaks of invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae serotype 12F were observed in two neighboring regions of rural Alaska in 2003 to 2006 and 2006 to 2008. IPD surveillance data from 1986 to 2009 and carriage survey data from 1998 to 2004 and 2008 to 2009 were reviewed to identify patterns of serotype 12F transmission. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis was performed on all available isolates, and selected isolates were characterized by additional genetic subtyping methods. Serotype 12F IPD occurred in two waves in Alaska between 1986 and 2008. While cases of disease occurred nearly every year in Anchorage, in rural regions, 12F IPD occurred with rates 10- to 20-fold higher than those in Anchorage, often with many years between disease peaks and generally caused by a single predominant genetic clone. Carriage occurred predominantly in adults, except early in the rural outbreaks, when most carriage was in persons <18 years old. In rural regions, carriage of 12F disappeared completely after outbreaks. Different 12F clones appear to have been introduced episodically into rural populations, spread widely in young, immunologically naïve populations (leading to outbreaks of IPD lasting 1 to 3 years), and then disappeared rapidly from the population. Larger population centers might have been the reservoir for these clones. This epidemiologic pattern is consistent with a highly virulent, but immunogenic, form of pneumococcus.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1
Regions and locations of pneumococcal carriage surveys in Alaska.
Fig 2
Fig 2
IPD serotype 12F cases by region—Alaska, 1986 to 2009.
Fig 3
Fig 3
Proportion of 12F carriers by age class—regions A, B, and C.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2011. Recommended immunization schedules for persons aged 0 through 18 years—United States, 2011. MMWR Morb. Mortal. Wkly. Rep. 60(5):1–4
    1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2011. Recommended adult immunization schedule—United States, 2011. MMWR Morb. Mortal. Wkly. Rep. 60(4):1–4 - PubMed
    1. Singleton RJ, Hennessy TW, Bulkow LR, Hammitt LL, Zulz T, Hurlburt DA, Butler JC, Rudolph K, Parkinson A. 2007. Invasive pneumococcal disease caused by nonvaccine serotypes among Alaska native children with high levels of 7-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine coverage. JAMA 297:1784–1792 - PubMed
    1. Said MA, O'Brien KL, Nuorti JP, Singleton R, Whitney CG, Hennessy TW. 2011. The epidemiologic evidence underlying recommendations for use of pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine among American Indian and Alaska Native populations. Vaccine 29:5355–5362 - PubMed
    1. Gessner BD, Ussery XT, Parkinson AJ, Breiman RF. 1995. Risk factors for invasive disease caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae among Alaska native children younger than two years of age. Pediatr. Infect. Dis. J. 14:123–128 - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources