A cohort of spring-born beef calves demonstrated limited genetic and phenotypic diversity of Escherichia coli O157 when kept in a state of isolation. Despite this, there was a difference in the pulsed-field gel electrophoresis and phage types of isolates shed by cattle at pasture compared with those shed by the same cattle when weaned and housed.

A cluster of 14 cases of Salmonella Urbana cases in Finland, the Czech Republic and Latvia were identified in January-February, 2010. The majority of cases (11) were male and children under 16 years of age. The investigation is currently ongoing and comparison of pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) profiles of the isolates suggests that the cases may have a common source of infection.

A collection of 39 methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) stains derived from six different hospitals in Ankara and one hospital in Barsa, Turkey, were analyzed by multiple genotyping. In agreement with the other genotyping assays, pulsed-field gel electrophoresis of DNA macrorestriction fragments identified genetic homogeneity among all MRSA isolates studies. It is concluded that a...

An outbreak of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infections at the University of Utah Health Sciences Center occurred over a 7-month period. While the isolates phenotypically appeared to be similar in gross morphology and have similar Vitek antibiotic susceptibility patterns, two additional methods of strain characterization were evaluated to enhance the epidemiological investigation:...