We conducted a program of population-based molecular typing of all Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates obtained in Alabama since 1994. Of 2452 isolates, 1013 (41%) had fewer than 6 bands of IS6110; 348 (14%) had a single two-band pattern (JH2). With conventional epidemiologic methods, we identified three groups of related patients with JH2 isolates. Spoligotyping and pattern of variable number ...

Phage typing was used to identify strains of Escherichia coli isolated from urinary and nonurinary sources. When eight phages isolated in Pennsylvania were used to type 717 cultures from Missouri, 50.3% of 624 urinary isolates and 34.4% of 93 nonurinary isolates were typable. Strains from nonurinary sources were not found commonly in urine. When five additional phages isolated in Missouri were ...

A method of phage subtyping group A type 49 streptococci is described. The method is similar to that used for phage typing staphylococci, except that lysates obtained by induction with mitomycin C rather than propagated stock phages were used. Five type 49 strains were used as phage donors. Seventy-two strains of type 49 streptococci isolated from 10 worldwide sources were examined by this meth...

With increasing rates of antibiotic resistance, bacterial infections have become more difficult to treat, elevating the importance of surveillance and prevention. Effective surveillance relies on the availability of rapid, cost-effective, and informative typing methods to monitor bacterial isolates. PCR-based typing assays are fast and inexpensive, but their utility is limited by the lack of ta...

Early in the history of Chagas disease it became apparent that there was considerable variation in the incidence and severity of infections with parasites classified as being Trypanosoma cruzi (see Pessoa 1960 for a review of early findings by scientists such as Carlos Chagas and Emmanuel Dias). A variety of typing schemes were developed as a means of finding the basis of this variation and mor...

Thirteen phages were isolated from lysogenic cultures of Staphylococcus epidermidis from a clinical laboratory and used to type 223 clinical isolates of this organism. The 18 phages isolated in The Netherlands were used to type these same cultures. No correlation was observed between phage type, biotype, or clinical source of isolation. At phage concentrations of 100 times the routine test dilu...

BACKGROUND Marine microbial communities have been essential contributors to global biomass, nutrient cycling, and biodiversity since the early history of Earth, but so far their community distribution patterns remain unknown in most marine ecosystems. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS The synthesis of 9.6 million bacterial V6-rRNA amplicons for 509 samples that span the global ocean's surface to...

Mycobacterium bovis is the main causative agent of animal tuberculosis (TB) and it may cause TB in humans. Molecular typing of M. bovis isolates provides precise epidemiological data on issues of inter- or intra-herd transmission and wildlife reservoirs. Techniques used for typing M. bovis have evolved over the last 2 decades, and PCR-based methods such as spoligotyping and mycobacterial inters...

Mycoplasma bovis is an important veterinary pathogen causing pneumonia, arthritis, and mastitis in infected cattle. We investigated the genetic diversity of 53 isolates collected in the United Kingdom between 1996 and 2002 with pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE), amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP), and random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis. In addition, the influence ...

Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are one of the most common bacterial infections in humans, causing cystitis, pyelonephritis, and renal failure. Uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC) is the leading cause of UTIs. Accurate and rapid discrimination of UPEC lineages is useful for epidemiological surveillance. Fimbriae are necessary for the adherence of UPEC strains to host uroepithelia, and seem to...