The distribution and transmission of Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans in families with localized juvenile periodontitis

Abstract

The prevalence and distribution of A. actinomycetemcomitans in families where at least one family member (proband) suffered from localized juvenile periodontitis was investigated. 25 probands with localized juvenile periodontitis (LJP) and their 78 close family members were screened for the presence of A. actinomycetemcomitans. Among these 25 families, 10 contained at least one additional family member colonized with oral A. actinomycetemcomitans. Genomic DNA from subgingival A. actinomycetemcomitans strains from each of the probands and their family members were amplified and characterized by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using a single primer known to distinguish A. actinomycetemcomitans strains. The PCR products from each strain were separated by electrophoresis on a 1% submarine agarose gel containing ethidium bromide and visualized by UV light transillumination. The studies showed that 41.2% of the parents and 58% of the siblings in this LJP-based population harbored the bacterium. Comparison of the PCR generated amplitypes showed that there was a wide distribution of amplitypes among the probands and immediate relatives. No clear transmission paths were observed in this specific population.

Improved, Low-Cost Selective Culture Medium for Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans

“…Treatment failures have been associated with the failure to reduce the amount of the microorganism in treated sites (14,17). Furthermore, data on the transmission of A. actinomycetemcomitans from host to host (5,6,32) and new evidence of its role as an infectious agent involved in disease development at extraoral sites (35) are providing one of the strongest associations between this oral pathogen and periodontal and systemic diseases.…”

“…Since A. actinomycetemcomitans is found in small proportions and because its growth can be inhibited in vitro by common oral streptococcal species (23), selective culture media are useful tools in the detection and enumeration of this bacterium. Although new molecular techniques are extremely sensitive in the detection of target bacteria (32,33,34), culture techniques are still the methods of reference for studying viable cells and a prerequisite for determining the antimicrobial susceptibility of a given pathogen.Among the selective culture media described for the isolation and enumeration of A. actinomycetemcomitans (11,16,23), tryptic soy-serum-bacitracin-vancomycin (TSBV) medium (23) has been the most widely used in the analysis of any kind of oral samples (4, 19) in studies throughout the world (2, 10, 13, 26). TSBV medium has been defined as a low-inhibitory medium compared with a nonselective blood agar medium (23).…”

“…Since A. actinomycetemcomitans is found in small proportions and because its growth can be inhibited in vitro by common oral streptococcal species (23), selective culture media are useful tools in the detection and enumeration of this bacterium. Although new molecular techniques are extremely sensitive in the detection of target bacteria (32,33,34), culture techniques are still the methods of reference for studying viable cells and a prerequisite for determining the antimicrobial susceptibility of a given pathogen.…”

Transmission of Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans between Brazilian women with severe chronic periodontitis and their children

“…Molecular biology assays have been used to examine periodontopathogen transmission -restriction endonuclear analysis (5), ribotyping (7) and AP-PCR (4,6,8). This study used AP-PCR, which allows evaluating the similarity between bacterial clonal types and then suggest their transmission.…”

“…Aa transmission between family members with different profiles of periodontal diseases and in different geographic areas of the world has been demonstrated (4)(5)(6)(7)(8). Tinoco et al (4) evaluated Aa transmission in Brazilian families of aggressive periodontitis patients.…”