EPIDEMIOLOGIC ANALYSIS OF CANDIDA YEASTS BY PULSED-FIELD GEL-ELECTROPHORESIS

The purpose of this study was to determine whether yeast isolates from mothers and their new-borns are of the same genotype. In this investi gation, 103 parturient mothers and their children were examined for co lonization by yeasts by sampling the vaginal secretions at delivery an d by taking swabs from the oral mucosa and the anus of the children on the third day after parturition. The samples were cultured on Saboura ud. glucoseagar and incubated for 48 h at 37 degrees C. Differentiatio n of the isolates was achieved biochemically by means of the Vitek AMS system and morphologically on rice extract agar. Subsequently DNA fin gerprinting analysis was carried out by means of pulsed-field gel elec trophoresis (PFGE). In six cases we could prove the presence of Candid a spp, in the mothers as well as in their children. In all cases the s trains isolated from mother and child showed the same banding pattern. Likewise, the strains isolated from the vaginal secretion and the vag inal epithelium of individual women were identical. The differences ob served between strains isolated from different women were small to mid dling. This shows PFGE to be an efficient procedure to demonstrate the relation between strains derived from mothers and their newborns.