TY - JOUR
T1 - Investigation of suspected nosocomial clusters of staphylococcus Haemolyticus infections
AU - Perl, Trish M.
AU - Krüger, Wolfgang A.
AU - Houston, Alison
AU - Boyken, Linda D.
AU - Pfaller, Michael A.
AU - Herwaldt, Loreen A.
PY - 1999
Y1 - 1999
N2 - OBJECTIVE: To determine whether typing methods can discriminate among Staphylococcus haemolyticus isolates. DESIGN: Molecular epidemiological evaluation of S haemolyticus isolates obtained from patients hospitalized on a hematology service and in a surgical intensive-care unit (SICU). SETTING: A large Midwestern teaching hospital. INTERVENTIONS: None. RESULTS: Over 22 days, S haemolyticus was isolated from five patients on the hematology service. Isolates from four patients had the same unusual antibiogram and biotype. Ribotyping, restriction endonuclease digestion of plasmid DNA (REAP), and whole chromosomal DNA analysis by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) confirmed that these isolates were identical and different from the fifth patient's isolate and from 6 control isolates. In a second cluster, 11 S haemolyticus isolates obtained from eight patients in the SICU had similar antibiograms and biotypes. By REAP and ribotype analysis, isolates from four patients were identical. However, PFGE indicated that only two of these patients shared a common strain. CONCLUSIONS: Antibiograms or biotyping may discriminate among isolates of S haemolyticus if the results of these tests are unusual. Many clinical isolates can be differentiated by REAP analysis, ribotyping, or PFGE. However, some isolates are identical by all of these methods, suggesting that they may have been transmilled nosocomially.
AB - OBJECTIVE: To determine whether typing methods can discriminate among Staphylococcus haemolyticus isolates. DESIGN: Molecular epidemiological evaluation of S haemolyticus isolates obtained from patients hospitalized on a hematology service and in a surgical intensive-care unit (SICU). SETTING: A large Midwestern teaching hospital. INTERVENTIONS: None. RESULTS: Over 22 days, S haemolyticus was isolated from five patients on the hematology service. Isolates from four patients had the same unusual antibiogram and biotype. Ribotyping, restriction endonuclease digestion of plasmid DNA (REAP), and whole chromosomal DNA analysis by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) confirmed that these isolates were identical and different from the fifth patient's isolate and from 6 control isolates. In a second cluster, 11 S haemolyticus isolates obtained from eight patients in the SICU had similar antibiograms and biotypes. By REAP and ribotype analysis, isolates from four patients were identical. However, PFGE indicated that only two of these patients shared a common strain. CONCLUSIONS: Antibiograms or biotyping may discriminate among isolates of S haemolyticus if the results of these tests are unusual. Many clinical isolates can be differentiated by REAP analysis, ribotyping, or PFGE. However, some isolates are identical by all of these methods, suggesting that they may have been transmilled nosocomially.
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U2 - 10.1086/501599
DO - 10.1086/501599
M3 - Article
C2 - 10064218
AN - SCOPUS:0033071714
SN - 0899-823X
VL - 20
SP - 128
EP - 131
JO - Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology
JF - Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology
IS - 2
ER -