A comparative evaluation of PCR ribotyping and ERIC PCR for determining the diversity of clinical Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates.

Two typing methods were evaluated, utilizing 62 clinical strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, to assess their usefulness as tools to study the bacterial diversity within this complex group. Genetic diversity was determined by PCR ribotyping and enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus (ERIC) PCR. By these methods, 9 and 36 genotypes were found, respectively. The result showed that ERIC PCR analysis is a more discriminatory method than PCR ribotyping analysis and traditional serotyping scheme. We suggest that maximum discrimination can be achievied by a combination of these methods.