Characterization of Streptococcus pneumoniae serotype 19F-variants occurring in Brazil uncovers a predominant lineage that can lead to misinterpretation in capsular typing

BackgroundStreptococcus pneumoniae (S. pneumoniae) of serogroup 19 are mainly represented by serotypes 19A and 19F, which associated with antimicrobial resistance disease. The wzy gene, a component the pneumococcal capsular locus, is target to differentiate 19F PCR-based typing. In last decade, allelic variants wzy19F gene have been described, leading misinterpretation typing results.MethodsA collection 154 serotype S. strains recovered from carriage disease in Brazil was evaluated identify characterize variant isolates.ResultsEleven (7%) isolates were detected identified as belonging ST810 (n = 10) or ST13673 1; single-locus ST810). They mostly diseased patients, susceptible agents tested (except for one multidrug-resistant strain) did not harbor pili genes. Sequences these identical each other those previously described Brazil, but slightly different countries.ConclusionThis study indicated that present geographically driven distribution first uncover phenotypic genetic features lineage occurring since 1989.