COMPARISON OF VIBRIO-CHOLERAE O1 ISOLATES BY POLYMERASE CHAIN-REACTION FINGERPRINTING AND RIBOTYPING

The rRNA gene restriction patterns and the polymerase chain reaction ( PCR) fingerprinting types of 53 Vibrio cholerae O1 isolates were studi ed, Five and eight patterns were observed from 27 toxigenic and 26 non -toxigenic O1 isolates after Bg/I cleavage, PCR fingerprinting with th ree primer sets aimed at enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consens us (ERIC) sequences, ERIC-related sequences in V. cholerae, another ki nd of repeated sequences in V. cholerae (VCR) and arbitrary sequences divided the same strains into seven and 10 PCR types, respectively, Ei ght ribotypes had unique PCR patterns, PCR fingerprinting identified m ore than one pattern among isolates within each of the remaining ribot ypes, However, ribotyping was able to differentiate the same PCR types in one case, A single ribotype and a single PCR pattern were found in toxigenic O1 strains isolated in Taiwan from imported food and import ed cases of cholera between 1993 and 1995. Typing of V. cholerae O1 by PCR fingerprinting correlated well with ribotyping, but was more disc riminating, PCR assay provides a rapid and simple means of typing thes e strains for epidemiological studies.