First experience of molecular typing and determining the antibiotic resistance of syphilis pathogen <i>Treponema pallidum</i> in the Russian Federation
The authors present the results of molecular typing and determining the antibiotic resistance of 190 <i>T. pallidum</i> strains sampled from primary and secondary syphilitic patients in the russian Federation in 2011—2012. molecular typing of <i>T. pallidum </i>strains was based on two variable gens: arp, tpr, and was supplemented with an analysis of gene tp0548 reading frame. Antibiotic resistance of syphilis strains was determined by means of sequencing the gene encoding 23S rRNA <i>T. pallidum</i> in such loci as A2058G and A2059G/C (resistance to macrolides), gene encoding 16S rRNA <i>T. pallidum</i> in locus G1058C, and determinant tetB (resistance to tetracyclines) as well as full-scale sequencing the genes encoding target proteins of β-lactams Tp47 and Tromp. As a result of molecular typing in the territory of the Russian Federation, ten subtypes of <i>T. pallidum</i> were revealed. Type 14 (98.4%) predominates; the share of subtype 14d/f is 91.03%; the share of subtypes 14d/Tand 14b/f, Type 14, was 2.10 and 3.16%, respectively; the share of all other subtypes (11d/f, 13d/f, 14a/a, 14a/f, 14d/g, 14d/c, 20d/f) was 0.53%. molecular markers of <i>T. pallidum</i> antibiotic resistance were revealed among the strains coming from the Central, Siberian and Volga federal regions of Russia: macrolides - three strains sampled in 2011; tetracyclines - two strains sampled in 2011 and one strain sampled in 2012.