Clustering of Candida parapsilosis blood stream infections in the Hospitalof Poitiers, France: A retrospective study

Purpose. A cluster of isolates of Candida parapsilosis recovered from blood stream infections of patients from the Hospital of Poitiers (France) was o bserved from 1996 to 1997. A retrospective epidemiological study including molecular typing of the isolates was conducted to assess whether it was a t rue outbreak or a pseudo-epidemic. Materials and methods. A retrospective analysis of the chronological and sp atial moving of the patients was conducted by reviewing their charts. Typin g was performed by RFLP and RAPD analysis with two different enzymes and fo ur different primers and by PFGE. Results. The cluster was demonstrated by the combination of classical and m olecular epidemiological techniques to have resulted from concurrent emerge nce of different strains simulating an outbreak. RFLP and RAPD techniques a ppeared to be poorly discriminant compared to PFGE.