title: Pyrolysis mass spectrometry of cephalosporin-resistant Enterobacter cloacae.
abstract: Thirteen clinical and four environmental isolates of third-generation cephalosporin-resistant Enterobacter cloacae (CREC) together with single isolates from the hands of a nurse and from a blood gas analyser were associated with two clusters of nosocomial infection. With an unrelated CREC isolate they had been typed by serotype, biotype, ribotype and phage-type and were examined by pyrolysis mass spectrometry (PYMS) as described here. PYMS data yielded two clusters, major and minor. All except one isolate in the major cluster corresponded to type group identity (serotype 07, biotype 62, ribotype D) which had caused neonatal sepsis and colonization. Multivariate analysis showed a homogeneous group consisting of this strain plus two outliers. The minor cluster included four different strains, one of which, serotype 03, biotype 62, ribotype C had caused excoriation of the buttocks and colonization.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Microbiology, Queen Charlotte's and Chelsea Hospital, London, UK.
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Ahmet
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Houang
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hurley
mesh_terms: D018550:Cephalosporin Resistance; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D003428:Cross Infection / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000635:transmission; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D016972:Enterobacter cloacae / Q000145:classification*; D004756:Enterobacteriaceae Infections / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000635:transmission; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D017053:Infection Control; D013058:Mass Spectrometry / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards*; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012703:Serotyping / Q000379:methods