L'antibiotherapie precoce en cas de suspicion de m~ningococcie rend difficile I'isolement de Neisseria meningitidis. Des mCthodes moleculaires de diagnostic sans culture sont rCcemment developpees en utUisant la technique de I'amplification gCnique. Les prClevements correspondent le plus souvent au sang et au liquide cCphalorachidien (LCR), mais d'autres types de prelevements peuvent 6tre testes comme le liquide articulaire et le liquide pericardique. Plusieurs strategies sont actuellement utilisees. L'ADN de N. meningitidis est d'abord detecte, ensuite le serogroupe est predit (genogroupage). N. meningitidis est une bacterie variable & cause des frequents echanges horizontaux d'ADN entre les souches. Les approches moleculaires de typage permettent une tragabilite fiable des souches bact~riennes et une analyse epidemiologique puissante.
Neisseria meningitidisdiagnostic mole~culaire -typage -PCR.
Molecular diagnosis of Neisseria meningitidis
Culture-confirmed diagnosis of meningococcal infections is hindered by the failure to isolate Neisseria meningitidis following an early antibiotic treatment, which is highly recommended whenever meningococcal infection is suspeced. Molecular methods for nonculture diagnosis of meningococcal infections have been recently developed and they usually use PCR-based detection of meningococcal DNA. Samples correspond most frequently to blood and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), however, other samples can also be tested such as articular fluid and pericardiac fluid is observed. Several strategies are currently used but they usually a two-step process, the detection of meningococcal DNA and the prediction of serogroup (genogrouping). N. raeningitidis is highly variable due to frequent horizontal DNA exchange between strains. Molecular approaches of typing allow a reliable tracking of meningococcal strains and a powerful epidemiological analysis.
Neisseria meningitidismolecular diagnosis -typing -PCR.