molecular characterization of epidemic isolates of vibrio cholerae o1 by arbitrarily primed pcr (ap-pcr)

background: epidemic and endemic cholera is a major public health problem for many   countries. aim of this study was to evaluate ap-pcr for investigation of clonal relatedness among the strains of vibrio cholerae recovered from an out­break occurred in different parts of iran in 2005. methods: the study was conducted during the cholera outbreak occurred in some of provinces in iran in summer 2005. bac­terial isolation and identification was carried out according to the standard bacteriological methods. arbitrarily primed pcr (ap-pcr) used to study the genetic relatedness between the v.cholerae isolates. results: thirty-nine isolates of v.cholerae o1 were identified. all isolates belonged to serotype inaba. ap-pcr could dif­ferentiate the isolates into five groups. ap-pcr cluster types 1 and 2 were the most prevalent groups, accounting for 36% and 41%, respectively, of v.cholerae isolates. conclusion: the most of epidemic strains of v.cholerae o1 isolated in the year 2005 could be attributed to two pre­dominant clusters including ap-pcr cluster types 1 and 2 accounting for more than 77% of isolates. in conclusion, a few epidemic clones were responsible for the apparently epidemic occurrence of cholera in provinces studied.