Characterization of Burkholderia pseudomallei isolated in Thailand and Malaysia

A total of 35 Burkholderia pseudomallei isolates from Thailand (16 clinical and eight soil isolates) and Malaysia (seven animal, two isolate each from clinical and soil) were investigated by their antimicrobial resistance, pl asmid profiles and were typed by randomly amplified polymorphic DNA analysi s. All isolates were found to be resistant to six or more of the 12 antimic robial agents tested. Only two small plasmids of 1.8 and 2.4 megadalton wer e detected in two clinical isolates from Thailand. RAPD analysis with prime r GEN2-60-09 resulted in the identification of 35 RAPD-types among the 35 i solates. The constructed dendrogram differentiated the 35 isolates into two main clusters and a single isolate. The wide genetic biodiversity among th e 35 isolates indicate that RAPD-PCR can be a useful method to differentiat e unrelated B. pseudomallei in epidemiological investigation. (C) 2000 Else vier Science Inc. All rights reserved.