title: An enhanced DNA fingerprinting service to investigate potential Clostridium difficile infection case clusters sharing the same PCR ribotype.
abstract: Of 53 potential Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) case clusters/outbreaks, affecting 2 to 41 patients in 27 institutions, 19% comprised unrelated isolates and 34% had highly related and distinct isolates as shown by multilocus variable-number tandem-repeat analysis, despite sharing a common ribotype. These findings emphasize the value of enhanced fingerprinting to confirm or refute suspected CDI case clusters.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, The General Infirmary, Old Medical School, Leeds LS1 3EX, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Warren N
authors.initials: WN
authors.lastname: Fawley
authors.forename: Mark H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Wilcox
mesh_terms: D015373:Bacterial Typing Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D016360:Clostridioides difficile / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D003015:Clostridium Infections / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D003428:Cross Infection / Q000453:epidemiology; D016172:DNA Fingerprinting / Q000379:methods*; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D014644:Genetic Variation; D006801:Humans; D017720:Molecular Epidemiology / Q000379:methods; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods*; D021521:Ribotyping