Specific high-resolution scheme to improve understanding of the spatio-temporal dispersion of lymphogranuloma venereum epidemic.

Lymphogranuloma venereum (LGV) is already endemic in vulnerable populations in several European countries; however, molecular epidemiology data with improved accuracy are necessary to better understand LGV epidemic in these countries. Current strategies to study the molecular epidemiology of LGV cases involve schemes based on a few genetic fragments of Four genes were selected according to their diversity index (CTLon_0054, CTLon_0087, CTLon_0243 and CTLon_0301) for use in combination with Our proposal demonstrated higher diversity allowing the identification of three main groups compared to the previously published MLST based on hypervariable genes wherein only a single sequence type was identified. The temporal analysis showed that the major cluster was progressively diversifying, revealing a very active transmission chain. Furthermore, an L2b genome identical to that of the origin of the epidemic was detected, suggesting reintroductions or a low screening rate in vulnerable populations. The spatial distribution suggests that the selection and spread of new variants occurs from the central district to the peripheral regions. The scheme proposed in this study has proven to be useful for appropriate discrimination of LGV strains. This study, to our knowledge for the first time, demonstrates a spatio-temporal spread that increases our understanding and identifies areas with special susceptibility for maintenance of the endemic situation of LGV.

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Copyright © 2022 Martínez-García, González-Alba, Puerta, Comunión, Rodríguez-Jiménez, Orviz, Sánchez-Conde, Rodríguez-Domínguez, Cantón and Galán.

Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.