EMGM Strain Characterization Working Group

This working group has formed from a merger of the Molecular Typing and Antibiotic Resistance working groups.

Molecular Typing

Harmonising the characterisation of meningococcal isolates across Europe has been a major focus of the EMGM's activities since its inception in 1993. The MTWG achieves this by conducting multi-laboratory studies, promoting the sharing of reagents and methods, and organising workshops and training sessions.

Landmark achievements of members of this group include:

Linked to publications

Antibiotic Resistance

Convener: Muhamed-Kheir Taha, Neisseria Unit, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France, mktaha@pasteur.fr.
Co-convener: Julio Vázquez, Reference Laboratory for Neisserias, National Center for Microbiology, Institute of Health Carlos III, Madrid, Spain, jvazquez@isciii.es.

The aims of the working group on antibiotic resistance are:

Work within the WP designed an approach to better define breakpoints for the most relevant antibiotics. The approach consists of several steps:

  1. Sequencing of large collections of isolates to define wild type alleles for penA (penicillin G), rpoB (rifampicin), gyrA, parE and parC (ciprofloxacin).
  2. Correlate wild-type genes to MICs to define the epidemiological cut off values.
  3. Use of animal models to explore the impact of increased MIC during experimental infections.

Similar work is intended to characterize ß-lactamase negative ampicillin-resistant (BLNAR) invasive Haemophilus influenzae isolates through implementing of ftsI typing (method and sequences database).

This work aims to link genotypes to phenotypes in terms of antibiotic susceptibility testing.

Landmark achievements of members of this group include:

Linked to publications