An arbitrarily primed PCR (AP-PCR) was developed to analyze the genomi
c DNAs of Salmonella enteritidis isolates from human outbreaks and fro
m avian sources. The AP-PCR generated seven distinct randomly amplifie
d DNA patterns among the S. enteritidis isolates studied. Differences
in the DNA patterns among isolates of S. enteritidis phage types 13a a
nd 8 as well as among S. enteritidis phage type 14b were observed. The
AP-PCR analysis can be used to determine the differences among isolat
es within the same phage types and may be useful for tracing back the
source of S. enteritidis outbreaks in humans more precisely.