IS1245 RESTRICTION-FRAGMENT-LENGTH-POLYMORPHISM TYPING OF MYCOBACTERIUM-AVIUM ISOLATES - PROPOSAL FOR STANDARDIZATION

Mycobacterium avium has become a major human pathogen, primarily due t o the emergence of the;AIDS epidemic. Restriction fragment length poly morphism (RFLP) typing, using insertion sequence IS1245 as a probe, pr ovides a powerful tool in the molecular epidemiology of M. avium-relat ed infections and will facilitate well-founded studies into the source s of M. avium infections in animal and environmental reservoirs. The s tandardization of this technique allows computerization of IS1245 RFLP patterns for comparison on a local level and the establishment of M. avium DNA fingerprint databases for interlaboratory comparison. Moreov er, by combining international DNA typing results of M. avium complex isolates from a broad spectrum of sources, long-lasting questions on t he epidemiology of this major agent of mycobacterial infections will b e answered.