MOLECULAR EPIDEMIOLOGY OF BURKHOLDERIA-CEPACIA, STENOTROPHOMONAS-MALTOPHILIA, AND ALCALIGENES-XYLOSOXIDANS IN A CYSTIC-FIBROSIS-CENTER

Burkholderia cepacia, Stenotrophomonas maltophilia, and Alcaligenes xy losoxidans have been isolated with increasing frequency from the sputu m of patients with cystic fibrosis in a pediatric hospital, In 1994-95 , 27 of 120 patients were persistently colonized, 17 with Burkholderia cepacia, eight with Alcaligenes xylosoxidans, and five with Stenotrop homonas maltophilia, Genotyping of 220 clinical isolates revealed that most of the Burkholderia cepacia strains were clonally related, sugge sting either cross-infection or a common source of exposure, In contra st, neither cross-infection nor a common source of exposure appear to have occurred in the cases of Alcaligenes xylosoxidans or Stenotrophom onas maltophilia.