Genetic characterization of clinical isolates of Clostridium difficile using an optimized RAPD protocol and PCR ribotyping reveals strain diversity between two tertiary referral Trusts in the West Midlands, UK

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Abstract

Epidemiological investigations of Clostridium difficile often focus on differences between separate geographical areas. In this investigation, two populations of C. difficile recovered from separate tertiary referral Trusts within the West Midlands, UK, were characterized using both PCR ribotyping and an optimized RAPD (random amplification of polymorphic DNA) protocol. The PCR ribotyping and RAPD methodologies identified differences between the two C. difficile populations, in both the prevalence and the diversity of types identified. The use of PCR ribotyping in conjunction with RAPD further categorized different types within defined PCR ribotypes, identifying different types within the same PCR ribotype and therefore providing a greater discriminatory power than either of the methods when used alone. The differences observed in this study between the two Trusts in the distribution of both RAPD 'type' and PCR ribotype demonstrate the diversity that is present amongst isolates of C. difficile within a relatively small geographical area and warrants a need for further investigation into the local epidemiology of C. difficile.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1287-1291
Number of pages5
JournalJournal of Medical Microbiology
Volume60
Issue number9
Early online date21 Apr 2011
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Sept 2011

Keywords

  • clostridium infections
  • clostridium difficile
  • cluster analysis
  • genetic variation
  • genotype
  • Great Britain
  • hospitals
  • humans
  • molecular epidemiology
  • molecular typing
  • prevalence
  • random amplified polymorphic DNA technique
  • ribotyping

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