%0 Journal Article %T Phenotypic and genotypic characterization of meningococcal isolates in Tunis, Tunisia: High diversity and impact on vaccination strategies. %+ Université de Tunis El Manar (UTM) %+ Infections Bactériennes Invasives %+ Children’s Hospital of Tunis %+ Béchir Hamza Children's Hospital %A Brik, A. %A Terrade, Aude %A Hong, Eva %A Deghmane, Ala-Eddine %A Taha, Muhamed-Kheir %A Bouafsoun, A. %A Khmiri, M. %A Boussetta, K. %A Boukhir, S. %A Jaballah, N. Ben %A Kechrid, A. %A Smaoui, H. %< avec comité de lecture %@ 1201-9712 %J International Journal of Infectious Diseases %I Elsevier %V 91 %P 73-78 %8 2020-02 %D 2020 %R 10.1016/j.ijid.2019.11.013 %M 31756567 %K Invasive meningococcal disease %K Meningococcal vaccine %K Neisseria meningitidis serogroup B %K Tunisia %K Whole-genome sequencing %K fHbp expression %Z Life Sciences [q-bio]/Human health and pathology/Infectious diseasesJournal articles %X OBJECTIVES:The aim of this study was to characterize Neisseria meningitidis (Men) isolates in Tunisian paediatric patients with invasive meningococcal disease (IMD) in order to target therapeutic and preventive strategies.METHODS:Fifty-nine isolates of Men and four cerebrospinal fluid samples that were culture-negative but Men-positive by PCR (NC-MenPPCR) (2009-2016) were collected from IMD patients. Isolates were analysed for their antimicrobial susceptibility. Whole-genome sequencing (WGS) was used to characterize isolates and multilocus sequence typing for NC-MenPPCR. Coverage of Men serogroup B (MenB) was determined by Genetic Meningococcal Antigen Typing System (gMATS) and fHbp expression by ELISA.RESULTS:MenB was the predominant type (88.9%). The majority of isolates (81%) had reduced susceptibility to penicillin G with altered penA alleles. The clonal complex CC461 (27.1%) was the most frequent. Among the MenB vaccine targets neisserial heparin binding antigen (NHBA) and fHbp, the predominant variants were NHBA118 (30.8%) and fHbp peptide 47 (25%), respectively. The nadA gene was present in 17.3% of isolates. Using gMATS, 36.5% of MenB were predicted to be covered by the 4CMenB vaccine. ELISA showed that 92.4% of the MenB were expected to be killed by anti-fHbp antibodies.CONCLUSIONS:MenB was the leading serogroup in IMD, and more than 90% had a sufficient level of fHbp expression for vaccine coverage. The study results will be useful for the Tunisian vaccination programme. %G English %2 https://pasteur.hal.science/pasteur-02489606/document %2 https://pasteur.hal.science/pasteur-02489606/file/PIIS1201971219304527.pdf %L pasteur-02489606 %U https://pasteur.hal.science/pasteur-02489606 %~ PASTEUR