Equivalence of high-virulence clonotypes of serotype III group B Streptococcus agalactiae (GBS).

Analysis of growth characteristics, multilocus enzyme electrophoresis, restriction digest pattern (RDP) typing and multilocus sequence typing have identified clonotypes of serotype III group B Streptococcus agalactiae (GBS) associated with invasive infection in neonates. This study sought to unify phenotypic and genotypic classifications of type III GBS strains associated with increased virulence in newborns. High-virulence clonotype (HVC) strains possessed the translation initiation factor 2 (infB) C allele, found in RDP type III-3 strains, and hybridized with the RDP type III-3-specific probe AA3.