This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Reprints and Permissions Copyright Information Books from ASM Press MicrobeWorld Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Voss, A. Articles by Doebbeling, B. N. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Voss, A. Articles by Doebbeling, B. N.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Journal of Clinical Microbiology, Mar 1995, 576-580, Vol 33, No. 3
Copyright © 1995 by the American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Investigation of Candida albicans transmission in a surgical intensive care unit cluster by using genomic DNA typing methods

A Voss, MA Pfaller, RJ Hollis, J Rhine-Chalberg and BN Doebbeling
Department of Internal Medicine, University of Iowa College of Medicine, Iowa City 52242, USA.

An apparent outbreak of serious Candida albicans infections (n = 6) occurred in a surgical intensive care unit over a 4-week period. Four patients developed C. albicans bloodstream infections. An additional patient developed catheter-related C. albicans infection; the sixth patient developed an infection of cerebrospinal fluid. C. albicans was isolated from the hands of five health care workers (17%) and the throat of one health care worker (3%) during the outbreak investigation. Karyotyping and restriction endonuclease analysis of genomic DNA with BssHII of 23 C. albicans isolates from patients and the 6 health care worker isolates revealed 9 and 12 different patterns, respectively. Three of six patients appeared to be infected with the same C. albicans strain (two bloodstream infections and one cerebrospinal fluid infection). The hands of a health care worker were colonized with strain that appeared identical to an isolate from a patient prior to infection of the patient. However, restriction endonuclease analysis with SfiI found differences among the isolates determined to be identical by the other two methods. Karyotyping alone does not appear to be sufficient to differentiate between outbreak and control isolates. Restriction endonuclease analysis typing may be a more sensitive method than karyotyping alone in the investigation of a cluster of C. albicans infections. Furthermore, the use of more than one restriction enzyme may be necessary for optimal strain discrimination in restriction endonuclease analysis of genomic DNA.

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Lee, J. S., Shin, J. H., Kim, M.-N., Jung, S.-I., Park, K. H., Cho, D., Kee, S. J., Shin, M. G., Suh, S. P., Ryang, D. W. (2007). Kodamaea ohmeri Isolates from Patients in a University Hospital: Identification, Antifungal Susceptibility, and Pulsed-Field Gel Electrophoresis Analysis. J. Clin. Microbiol. 45: 1005-1010 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Makarova, N. U., Pokrowsky, V. V., Kravchenko, A. V., Serebrovskaya, L. V., James, M. J., McNeil, M. M., Lasker, B. A., Warnock, D. W., Reiss, E. (2003). Persistence of Oropharyngeal Candida albicans Strains with Reduced Susceptibilities to Fluconazole among Human Immunodeficiency Virus-Seropositive Children and Adults in a Long-Term Care Facility. J. Clin. Microbiol. 41: 1833-1837 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Soll, D. R. (2000). The Ins and Outs of DNA Fingerprinting the Infectious Fungi. Clin. Microbiol. Rev. 13: 332-370 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Berrouane, Y. F., Herwaldt, L. A., Pfaller, M. A. (1999). Trends in Antifungal Use and Epidemiology of Nosocomial Yeast Infections in a University Hospital. J. Clin. Microbiol. 37: 531-537 [Abstract] [Full Text]