title: DNA fingerprinting of human isolates of Salmonella enterica serotype Paratyphi B in Malaysia.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  DNA fingerprinting of Salmonella enterica serotype Paratyphi B isolated in Malaysia during 1982-83, 1992 and 1996-2002 was carried out by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE), antimicrobial susceptibility tests and D-tartrate utilization tests to assess the extent of genetic diversity of these isolates in Malaysia.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Eighty-six human isolates and one food isolate of Salm. Paratyphi B were analysed by PFGE, antimicrobial susceptibility tests and D-tartrate utilization tests. Sixty-five strains were D-tartrate-negative (dT-) while 22 strains were D-tartrate-positive (dT+). Thirty-seven per cent of the Salm. Paratyphi B strains were resistant to one or more antimicrobial agents. PFGE analysis clearly distinguished the dT- and dT+ strains into two clusters based on the unweighted pair group average method (UPGMA). Twenty-two XbaI-pulsotypes were observed among the 65 dT- strains while 17 XbaI-pulsotypes were observed among the 22 isolates of Salm. Paratyphi B dT+.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The present study showed that PFGE was very discriminative with 33.7% of the strains yielding distinct fingerprints. Paratyphoid fever in Malaysia is probably caused by one predominant, endemic clone of Salm. Paratyphi B dT- with various subtypes. There was no association between the pulsotypes and the severity of the disease indicating that the severity of the disease is probably multifactorial.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The findings of the present study verify the usefulness of PFGE in characterizing strains of Salm. Paratyphi B. This is the first report on the application of PFGE on a large collection of Salm. Paratyphi B in Malaysia.
authors: Microbiology Division, Institute of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
authors: Y L
authors: YL
authors: Goh
authors: R
authors: R
authors: Yasin
authors: S D
authors: SD
authors: Puthucheary
authors: Y T
authors: YT
authors: Koh
authors: V K E
authors: VK
authors: Lim
authors: Z
authors: Z
authors: Taib
authors: K L
authors: KL
authors: Thong
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D016172:DNA Fingerprinting; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D024881:Drug Resistance, Bacterial; D016521:Electrophoresis, Gel, Pulsed-Field; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008296:Malaysia; D008297:Male; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D010284:Paratyphoid Fever / Q000382:microbiology*; D012484:Salmonella paratyphi B / Q000145:classification / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial