Invasive aspergillosis: clusters and sources?
Clusters of invasive infection with Aspergillus fumigatus are known to be associated with building works but studying the epidemiology has been hampered by the lack of a reliable typing system. A combination of three typing systems; silver staining of sodium dodecyl sulphate-polyacrylamide gels, immunoblot fingerprinting, and random amplification of polymorphic DNA (RAPD) was applied to seven cases on a haematology unit. The results show three of the patients to have indistinguishable isolates, suggesting a common source. Detection and removal of such sources, although difficult, would be an effective way of controlling the infection.
Department of Medical Microbiology, University of Manchester Medical School, UK.
K W
KW
Loudon
A P
AP
Coke
J P
JP
Burnie
G S
GS
Lucas
J A
JA
Liu Yin
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001228:Aspergillosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology; D001230:Aspergillus / Q000145:classification; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D003428:Cross Infection / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology; D005260:Female; D006749:Hospital Design and Construction; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016533:Mycological Typing Techniques