Use of pulsed-field gel electrophoresis to investigate an outbreak of Serratia marcescens.

AUTOR(ES)

Shi, Z Y

RESUMO

Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) typing was applied to the epidemiological investigation of 20 Serratia marcescens isolates collected from urine specimens of 17 patients and three urinals over a 2-month period. Twenty-five epidemiologically unrelated strains were also tested to determine the discriminatory power of PFGE. The PFGE fingerprints of each isolate were consistent in three different tests. The 20 outbreak isolates had an identical PFGE fingerprint pattern, while the epidemiologically unrelated strains demonstrated unique PFGE fingerprint patterns. The source of the outbreak was inadequately disinfected urinals. We conclude that PFGE served as a highly discriminatory and reproducible method for the epidemiological investigation of the outbreak of S. marcescens infection addressed by this study.

Documentos Relacionados

• Use of pulsed-field gel electrophoresis typing to study an outbreak of infection due to Serratia marcescens in a neonatal intensive care unit.
• Use of pulsed-field gel electrophoresis to investigate a pseudo-outbreak of Bacillus cereus in a pediatric unit.
• Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis of circular DNA.
• Use of pulsed-field gel electrophoresis for epidemiological study of Bordetella pertussis in a whooping cough outbreak.
• Molecular Subtyping of Clostridium perfringens by Pulsed-Field Gel Electrophoresis To Facilitate Food-Borne-Disease Outbreak Investigations