title: Epidemiology of Burkholderia cepacia complex in patients with cystic fibrosis, Canada.
abstract: The Burkholderia cepacia complex is an important group of pathogens in patients with cystic fibrosis (CF). Although evidence for patient-to-patient spread is clear, microbial factors facilitating transmission are poorly understood. To identify microbial clones with enhanced transmissibility, we evaluated B. cepacia complex isolates from patients with CF from throughout Canada. A total of 905 isolates from the B. cepacia complex were recovered from 447 patients in 8 of the 10 provinces; 369 (83%) of these patients had genomovar III and 43 (9.6%) had B. multivorans (genomovar II). Infection prevalence differed substantially by region (22% of patients in Ontario vs. 5% in Quebec). Results of typing by random amplified polymorphic DNA analysis or pulsed-field gel electrophoresis indicated that strains of B. cepacia complex from genomovar III are the most potentially transmissible and that the B. cepacia epidemic strain marker is a robust marker for transmissibility.
authors.affiliation: University of British Columbia and Children's and Women's Health Centre of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. speert@interchange.ubc.ca
authors.forename: David P
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: Speert
authors.forename: Deborah
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Henry
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Vandamme
authors.forename: Mary
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Corey
authors.forename: Eshwar
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Mahenthiralingam
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D019121:Burkholderia Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology*; D016956:Burkholderia cepacia / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D002170:Canada / Q000453:epidemiology; D003550:Cystic Fibrosis / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology*; D006801:Humans; D015995:Prevalence