Genome sequences of Neisseria meningitidis from Bangladesh

Several cases of meningococcal meningitis and sepsis have been documented in South Asia. However, little genomic information is available on the meningococcal isolates circulating in the region. In this study, we address this gap through a comparative genomic analysis of 75 meningococcal isolates that presented at our surveillance sites in Bangladesh from 1993-2019. The study showed a diversity of meningococcal serogroups and sequence types present in Bangladesh. We also identified the antimicrobial resistance genes present in these isolates and correlate with results obtained from phenotypic antimicrobial susceptibility assays. Finally, we also predict the coverage of capsular and protein-subunit based vaccines in Bangladesh.