Recurrence is a major complication of Clostridium difficile-associated diarrhea and occurs in 15 to 20% of patients after discontinuation of therapy. Strains from 53 patients with Clostridium difficile recurrences were fingerprinted by PCR ribotyping. Reinfection with a different strain occurred in 15 out of 53 patients (28,3%), while 38 patients relapsed. These data suggest the need to perform...

OBJECTIVES To determine the mechanism of high-level resistance to fluoroquinolone antimicrobials in toxin-A-negative, toxin-B-positive (A- B+) Clostridium difficile isolates. METHODS Following culture 16-23S PCR ribotyping was used to determine genomic relationships between A- B+ C. difficile isolates. Antimicrobial susceptibilities were determined using Etests in the presence and absence of ...

Molecular typing is an essential tool to monitor Clostridium difficile infections and outbreaks within healthcare facilities. Molecular typing also plays a key role in defining the regional and global changes in circulating C. difficile types. The patterns of C. difficile types circulating within Europe (and globally) remain poorly understood, although international efforts are under way to und...

In a series of 116 Salmonella enterica Newport isolates that included 64 multidrug-resistant (MDR) isolates, automated ribotyping and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) discriminated MDR S. Newport with a sensitivity of 100% and 98% and specificity of 76% and 89%, respectively. Clustering of PFGE patterns (but not ribotyping) linked human and bovine cases. Automated ribotyping rapidly iden...