Clinical characteristics and molecular epidemiology of invasive Streptococcus agalactiae infections between 2007 and 2016 in Nara, Japan

PLoS One. 2020 Oct 19;15(10):e0240590. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0240590. eCollection 2020.

Abstract

Invasive Streptococcus agalactiae (GBS) infections are increasingly common among neonates and the elderly. Therefore, GBS surveillance for better antibiotic treatment and prophylaxis strategies are needed. We retrospectively evaluated the clinical aspects of invasive infections and the phenotypic and genetic diversity of infectious isolates from Nara, Japan, collected between 2007 and 2016, by using information from hospital records. GBS strains collected from the blood and cerebrospinal fluid cultures were evaluated for capsular types, multi-locus sequence typing (MLST), antibiotic susceptibility, antibiotics resistance gene, and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis. Forty GBS isolates (10 from children and 30 from adults) were analyzed, and the distribution of molecular serotype and allelic profiles varied between children and adults. We found the rates of early-onset disease in neonates with birth complications to be higher than that of previous reports, indicating that there could be relevance between complications at birth and early-onset disease. Standard antibiotic prophylaxis strategies may need to be reconsidered in patients with birth complications. In adults, the mean age of the patients was 68 years (male: 63%). Primary bacteremia was the most common source of infection. In the neonates, six had early-onset diseases and four had late-onset diseases. The most frequently identified strains were molecular serotype Ia ST23 (40%) and molecular serotype Ib ST10 (20%) in children and molecular serotype Ib ST10 (17%), molecular serotype VI ST1 (13%), and molecular serotype V ST1 (13%) in adults. Levofloxacin-resistant molecular serotype Ib strains and molecular serotypes V and VI ST1 were common causes of GBS infection in adults but were rarely found in children. Furthermore, pulsed-field gel electrophoresis in our study showed that specific clone isolates, that tend to have antibiotics resistance were widespread horizontally for a decade. Continuous surveillance and molecular investigation are warranted to identify the transmission route and improve antibiotic treatment strategies.

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Aged, 80 and over
  • Antibiotic Prophylaxis / methods
  • Electrophoresis, Gel, Pulsed-Field
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Japan / epidemiology
  • Levofloxacin / therapeutic use
  • Male
  • Microbial Sensitivity Tests
  • Middle Aged
  • Molecular Epidemiology*
  • Multilocus Sequence Typing
  • Serogroup
  • Serotyping
  • Streptococcal Infections / drug therapy*
  • Streptococcal Infections / genetics*
  • Streptococcal Infections / microbiology
  • Streptococcal Infections / pathology
  • Streptococcus agalactiae / drug effects*
  • Streptococcus agalactiae / pathogenicity

Substances

  • Levofloxacin

Grants and funding

BML Biomedical Laboratories R&D Center, Inc., provided support in the form of salaries for authors [MO and SI], but did not have any additional role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. The specific roles of these authors are articulated in the ‘author contributions’ section.