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However, reports of such cases in China are scarce. We present two cases of\n                      <jats:italic>N. meningitidis<\/jats:italic>\n                      strains isolated from the urogenital tract in China in 2024.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      Two\n                      <jats:italic>N. meningitidis<\/jats:italic>\n                      isolates were recovered from the urogenital tract. Whole genome sequencing (WGS) was performed to identify genogroup and sequence type (ST), factor H binding protein (fHbp), capsule polysaccharide synthesis (\n                      <jats:italic>cps<\/jats:italic>\n                      ) and nitrite reductase (\n                      <jats:italic>aniA<\/jats:italic>\n                      ) gene. Phylogenetic analysis was also performed.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      The first case was an infertile female with significant symptoms of urethritis. The strain isolated from her cervical secretion (FE-07) was identified as genogroup Y, ST-1466, clone complex (cc)-174, fHbp variants 2.21, harboring intact\n                      <jats:italic>cps<\/jats:italic>\n                      locus, and frameshift-mutated\n                      <jats:italic>aniA<\/jats:italic>\n                      gene. The second case was an infertile male presenting with mild pruritus of the glans. The strain recovered from his semen (FE-08) was classified as nongroupable, ST-11026, cc-32, fHbp variants 1.1, harboring incomplete\n                      <jats:italic>cps<\/jats:italic>\n                      locus, and frameshift-mutated\n                      <jats:italic>aniA<\/jats:italic>\n                      gene. Both STs of\n                      <jats:italic>N. meningitidis<\/jats:italic>\n                      have not been reported in China previously and are phylogenetically distinct from strains with the same STs in the NCBI GenBank database.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusions<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      Our study highlights the emergence of\n                      <jats:italic>N. meningitidis<\/jats:italic>\n                      as a urogenital pathogen in China and underscores the need for vigilance against potential outbreaks of meningococcal urethritis.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1186\/s12879-025-11907-1","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,29]],"date-time":"2025-10-29T14:17:40Z","timestamp":1761747460000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/springer_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":4,"title":["Emerging Neisseria meningitidis ST-1466 and ST-11026 as urogenital pathogens in China"],"prefix":"10.1186","volume":"25","author":[{"given":"Zhe","family":"Zhu","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Youwei","family":"Bao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ziyan","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Lina","family":"Ye","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yefang","family":"Ke","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"297","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,29]]},"reference":[{"key":"11907_CR1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"68","DOI":"10.1016\/j.mib.2014.11.006","volume":"23","author":"M Pizza","year":"2015","unstructured":"Pizza M, Rappuoli R. 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