title: Genetic diversity in clinical isolates of Escherichia coli by enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus (ERIC)-PCR technique in Sanandaj hospitals.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The Escherichia coli strains are greatly important in nosocomial and community acquired infections. The aim of this study was to determine the transmission of bacterial infections using genetic analysis.
  
  
  METHODS
  Two hundred and thirty Escherichia coli strains, isolated from different clinical samples, were characterized by enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus (ERIC)-PCR technique. The results and the similarity between the strains were determined on the basis of Jaccard similarity coefficient in the SAHN program of the NTSYS-pc software.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The ERIC-PCR profiles allowed typing of the 230 isolates into 205 ERIC-types which were grouped into twenty main clusters (C01-C20).The first group makes up 4.34% of the total isolates. Out of the 230 isolates, 34.2% belonged to D phylogenic group which were associated with extra-intestinal samples.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results showed high diversity in E. coli isolates indicating low rate of hospital infection in our university hospitals. The majority of the isolates belonged to the D phylogenic group.
authors.affiliation: Cellular & Molecular Research Center and Microbiology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences, Sanandaj, Iran.
authors.forename: Rashid
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ramazanzadeh
authors.forename: Serveh
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zamani
authors.forename: Saman
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zamani
keywords: E. coli; ERIC–PCR; fingerprinting; genetic diversity