BILOPHILA-WADSWORTHIA CLINICAL ISOLATES COMPARED BY POLYMERASE CHAIN-REACTION FINGERPRINTING

Bilophila wadsworthia isolates recovered from a right-ear cholesteatom a and brain abscess of the same patient were analyzed by means of poly merase chain reaction (PCR) fingerprinting with single primers (T3B an d M13 core) to ascertain if they originated from the same clone, Their PCR fingerprint profiles were compared with those of three additional B. wadsworthia clinical isolates and the type strain (ATCC 49260), Th e two isolates from the same patient produced PCR fingerprint profiles identical to each other, regardless of which primer was used, All iso lates' PCR fingerprint profiles, with use of either the T3B or M13 cor e primer, shared some major and minor bands, However, differences in a dditional major and minor bands distinguished each of the additional i solates, suggesting that there are different subgroups of B. wadsworth ia.