TY - JOUR AU - du Plessis, Mignon AU - Wolter, Nicole AU - Allam, Mushal AU - de Gouveia, Linda AU - Moosa, Fahima AU - Ntshoe, Genevie AU - Blumberg, Lucille AU - Cohen, Cheryl AU - Smith, Marshagne AU - Mutevedzi, Portia AU - Thomas, Juno AU - Horne, Valentino AU - Moodley, Prashini AU - Archary, Moherndran AU - Mahabeer, Yesholata AU - Mahomed, Saajida AU - Kuhn, Warren AU - Mlisana, Koleka AU - McCarthy, Kerrigan AU - von Gottberg, Anne T1 - Molecular Characterization of Corynebacterium diphtheriae Outbreak Isolates, South Africa, March–June 2015 T2 - Emerging Infectious Disease journal PY - 2017 VL - 23 IS - 8 SP - 1308 SN - 1080-6059 AB - In 2015, a cluster of respiratory diphtheria cases was reported from KwaZulu-Natal Province in South Africa. By using whole-genome analysis, we characterized 21 Corynebacterium diphtheriae isolates collected from 20 patients and contacts during the outbreak (1 patient was infected with 2 variants of C. diphtheriae). In addition, we included 1 cutaneous isolate, 2 endocarditis isolates, and 2 archived clinical isolates (ca. 1980) for comparison. Two novel lineages were identified, namely, toxigenic sequence type (ST) ST-378 (n = 17) and nontoxigenic ST-395 (n = 3). One archived isolate and the cutaneous isolate were ST-395, suggesting ongoing circulation of this lineage for >30 years. The absence of preexisting molecular sequence data limits drawing conclusions pertaining to the origin of these strains; however, these findings provide baseline genotypic data for future cases and outbreaks. Neither ST has been reported in any other country; this ST appears to be endemic only in South Africa. KW - Corynebacterium diphtheriae KW - outbreak KW - South Africa KW - diphtheria KW - MLST KW - whole genome sequencing KW - molecular epidemiology KW - whole-genome sequencing KW - respiratory diphtheria KW - cutaneous diphtheria KW - sequence type KW - CRISPR KW - bacteria KW - respiratory infections DO - 10.3201/eid2308.162039 UR - https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/23/8/16-2039_article ER - End of Reference