Skip directly to site content Skip directly to page options Skip directly to A-Z link Skip directly to A-Z link Skip directly to A-Z link
Volume 15, Number 10—October 2009
Dispatch

Fine-scale Identification of the Most Likely Source of a Human Plague Infection

Rebecca E. Colman, Amy J. Vogler, Jennifer L. Lowell, Kenneth L. Gage, Christina Morway, Pamela J. Reynolds, Paul Ettestad, Paul Keim, Michael Y. Kosoy, and David M. WagnerComments to Author 
Author affiliations: Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, Arizona, USA (R.E. Colman, A.J. Vogler, P. Keim, D. Wagner); Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA (J.L. Lowell, K.L. Gage, C. Morway, M.Y. Kosoy); New Mexico Department of Health, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA (P.J. Reynolds, P. Ettestad)

Main Article

Table 2

Overall relative probabilities of isolates with genotypes B or C as the source of a human plague infection in New Mexico, USA*

MLVA genotype Rates of specific mutations between each genotype and genotype of the human isolate (A)†
 Hypothesis Overall relative probability OR‡
M34:1 M25:1 M25:2
B (yard) 8.2 × 10–5 9.7 × 10–5 – B→A 7.9 × 10–9 –
C (trail, scenario 1) 8.2 × 10–5 – 1.3 × 10–5 C1→A 1.0 × 10–9 7.9
C (trail, scenario 2) 8.2 × 10–5 (9.7 × 10–5)2 – C2→A 7.6 × 10–13 1.0 × 104

*MLVA, multiple locus variable-number tandem repeat analysis; OR, odds ratio.
†Values generated using data and approaches described in (8).
‡The overall relative probability for each subsequent hypothesis is compared with the most likely hypothesis (B→A).

Main Article

References
  1. Girard  JM, Wagner  DM, Vogler  AJ, Keys  C, Allender  CJ, Drickamer  LC, Differential plague-transmission dynamics determine Yersinia pestis population genetic structure on local, regional, and global scales. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2004;101:8408–13. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
  2. Tenover  FC, Arbeit  RD, Goering  RV, Mickelsen  PA, Murray  BE, Persing  DH, Interpreting chromosomal DNA restriction patterns produced by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis: criteria for bacterial strain typing. J Clin Microbiol. 1995;33:2233–9.PubMedGoogle Scholar
  3. Vogler  AJ, Keys  C, Nemoto  Y, Colman  RE, Jay  Z, Keim  P. Effect of repeat copy number on variable-number tandem repeat mutations in Escherichia coli O157:H7. J Bacteriol. 2006;188:4253–63. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
  4. Perry  RD, Fetherston  JD. Yersinia pestis—etiologic agent of plague. Clin Microbiol Rev. 1997;10:35–66.PubMedGoogle Scholar
  5. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Human plague—four states, 2006. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2006;55:940–3.PubMedGoogle Scholar
  6. Inglesby  TV, Dennis  DT, Henderson  DA, Bartlett  JG, Ascher  MS, Eitzen  E, Plague as a biological weapon: medical and public health management. Working Group on Civilian Biodefense. JAMA. 2000;283:2281–90. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
  7. Pourcel  C, Andre-Mazeaud  F, Neubauer  H, Ramisse  F, Vergnaud  G. Tandem repeats analysis for the high resolution phylogenetic analysis of Yersinia pestis. BMC Microbiol. 2004;4:22. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
  8. Vogler  AJ, Keys  CE, Allender  C, Bailey  I, Girard  J, Pearson  T, Mutations, mutation rates, and evolution at the hypervariable VNTR loci of Yersinia pestis. Mutat Res. 2007;616:145–58. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
  9. Lowell  JL, Wagner  DM, Atshabar  B, Antolin  MF, Vogler  AJ, Keim  P, Identifying sources of human exposure to plague. J Clin Microbiol. 2005;43:650–6. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
  10. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Imported plague—New York City, 2002. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2003;52:725–8.PubMedGoogle Scholar
  11. Allender  CJ, Easterday  WR, Van Ert  MN, Wagner  DM, Keim  P. High-throughput extraction of arthropod vector and pathogen DNA using bead milling. Biotechniques. 2004;37:730, 732, 734.PubMedGoogle Scholar
  12. Keim  P, Price  LB, Klevytska  AM, Smith  KL, Schupp  JM, Okinaka  R, Multiple-locus variable-number tandem repeat analysis reveals genetic relationships within Bacillus anthracis. J Bacteriol. 2000;182:2928–36. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar

Main Article

Page created: December 08, 2010
Page updated: December 08, 2010
Page reviewed: December 08, 2010
The conclusions, findings, and opinions expressed by authors contributing to this journal do not necessarily reflect the official position of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Public Health Service, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or the authors' affiliated institutions. Use of trade names is for identification only and does not imply endorsement by any of the groups named above.
file_external