title: Clusters of nosocomial cross-infection due to Acinetobacter baumannii and genospecies 3: comparison of serotyping with macrorestriction analysis of genomic DNA with pulsed-field gel electrophoresis.
abstract: Triplets of isolates representing 20 putative clusters of nosocomial cross-infection due to Acinetobacter baumannii and genospecies 3 were examined comparatively using serotyping and analysis of restriction fragments (SmaI and ApaI) of genomic DNA with the aid of pulsed-field gel electrophoresis. Carbon source assimilation tests disclosed phenotypic variation among 6 to 20 triplets of isolates. Two misleading results of serotyping were encountered. With respect to the presumptive cluster No. 9, one of the genospecies 3 (originally serovar 4) isolates proved to be polyagglutinable upon repeat examination; this particular putative cluster was shown to be a pseudocluster by comparison of the macrorestriction profiles of the respective triple isolates. A strain of A. baumannii serovar 15 had infected 8 patients in a surgical intensive care unit, while a second, genotypically totally different strain of identical serovar had caused infection in one additional patient. With this exception, the correlation between serotyping and analysis of macrorestriction profiles was excellent.
authors.affiliation: Institut für Medizinische Mikrobiologie und Hygiene, Universität des Saarlandes, Homburg/Saar, Germany.
authors.forename: W H
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Traub
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Leonhard
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bauer
mesh_terms: D000150:Acinetobacter / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D000151:Acinetobacter Infections / Q000382:microbiology*; D003428:Cross Infection; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000032:analysis*; D016521:Electrophoresis, Gel, Pulsed-Field; D006801:Humans; D012150:Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length; D012703:Serotyping
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial