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. 2021 May 14:11:642455.
doi: 10.3389/fcimb.2021.642455. eCollection 2021.

Emergence of Invasive Serotype Ib Sequence Type 10 Group B Streptococcus Disease in Chinese Infants Is Driven by a Tetracycline-Sensitive Clone

Li Zhang  1 , Wen-Juan Kang  1 , Lei Zhu  1 , Li-Jun Xu  1 , Chao Guo  1 , Xin-Hua Zhang  2 , Qing-Hua Liu  3 , Lan Ma  1
Affiliations

Emergence of Invasive Serotype Ib Sequence Type 10 Group B Streptococcus Disease in Chinese Infants Is Driven by a Tetracycline-Sensitive Clone

Li Zhang et al. Front Cell Infect Microbiol. .

Abstract

Background: Group B streptococcus (GBS) is a leading cause of serious infections in infants. The extensive use of tetracycline has led to the selection of specific resistant and infectious GBS clones. The sequence type (ST) 10 GBS strain, causing invasive infections in infants, is becoming prevalent in China. We aimed to understand the clinical and microbiological characteristics of this GBS strain.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective study on infants with invasive GBS disease from the largest women's and children's medical center in Shanxi and collected data between January 2017 and October 2020. GBS isolates were analyzed by capsule serotyping, genotyping, antibiotic resistance, and surface protein genes.

Results: All ST10 isolates belonged to serotype Ib; type Ib/ST10 strains were responsible for 66.7% (14/21, P < 0.05) of infant invasive GBS infections during the period and all resulted in late-onset (LOD) and late LOD disease (14/14). Infants with type Ib/ST10 GBS disease had significantly higher rates of meningitis (9/14, 64.3%, p < 0.05) and clinical complications (5/14, 35.7%, p < 0.05). The Ib/ST10 GBS isolates had limited genetic diversity, clustered in the CC10/bca/PI-1 + PI-2a genetic lineage, showed resistance to erythromycin, lincomycin, and fluoroquinolones and sensitivity to tetracycline, and possessed genes ermT, ermB, and amino acid changes in gyrA and parC.

Conclusions: The probable clonal expansion can result in severe infections in infants and ongoing emergence of multi-drug resistant isolates. Continued monitoring for type Ib/ST10 GBS infections is warranted.

Keywords: group B streptococcus; infants; late-onset disease; meningitis; tetracycline.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Dendrogram constructed from the multi-locus sequence typing (MLST) profiles of seven housekeeping genes of 21 GBS isolates.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Dendrogram constructed from the CRISPR1 profiles of GBS strains.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Distribution of antibiotic resistance gene and phenotypes in the GBS isolates.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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