Characterization of medically important Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates

The applicability of the repetitive-sequence-based PCR (rep-PCR)–based DiversiLab system was tested compared with the pulsed fieldgel electrophoresis (PFGE) to type a phenotypically similar subset of a large collection of multiresistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa strainsisolated during a 17-month period from patients treated in different wards including 4 intensive care units (ICUs). Five environmental P.aeruginosa isolates obtained from one of the ICUs were also included. The DiversiLab system and the PFGE demonstrated the geneticrelationship among the isolates with the same efficacy. One of the environmental isolates had the same rep-PCR type as the circulating clone.Multilocus sequence typing of one of the clinical isolates of the circulating clone proved that it is a member of a clonal complex of P.aeruginosa that has not been previously described in clinical samples.© 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.