INVESTIGATION OF A PSEUDO-OUTBREAK OF NOCARDIA-ASTEROIDES INFECTION BY PULSED-FIELD GEL-ELECTROPHORESIS AND RANDOMLY AMPLIFIED POLYMORPHIC DNA PCR

Molecular strain typing by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis and by ran domly amplified polymorphic DNA analysis was used to investigate a clu ster of four Nocardia asteroides isolates associated with the BACTEC 4 60 TB system. An instrument motor drive misalignment resulted in inade quate needle sterilization and cross-contamination of BACTEC vials. Th is pseudo-outbreak illustrates the importance of proper BACTEC 460 nee dle sterilization and maintenance and confirms the usefulness of molec ular typing methods for epidemiologic investigations.