Use of automated ribotyping of Austrian Listeria monocytogenes isolates tosupport epidemiological typing

We used automated ribotyping on the RiboPrinter(R) Microbial Characterizati on System to study the epidemiology of listeriosis in western Austria over the period 1988-1996. Thirty-six isolates containing three serotypes were i ncluded in this collection. Each of the 16 ribotype groupings (RiboGroups) produced in this study contained a single serotype. isolates collected from within a single food factory environment all grouped into unique RiboGroup s. One factory contained isolates showing two unique RiboGroups, both of wh ich were also seen in patient isolates. This same set of Listeria isolates has previously been studied by automated laser fluorescence analysis of ran domly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD-Alfa). The data produced by the RiboP rinter(R) system correlated well with the epidemiological information, bett er than the results achieved with RAPD-Alfa. The RiboPrinter(R) system prov ides a rapid, easy, and useful method for the typing of Listeria monocytoge nes. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.