1999 Volume 52 Issue 6 Pages 383-387
An epidemiological analysis of enterohemorrhagic E. coli from human cases in Yamaguchi Prefecture in 1996 was done using drug susceptibility patterns, plasmid profiles and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE). Of 27 isolates, one was resistant to ABPC, SM and TC, while the other two were to TC and CP, respectively. By combination of PFGE and plasmid profile analysis, the isolates could be divided into 16 patterns, revealing that PFGE using several restriction endonucleases was useful for discrimination of different batcterial strains. Fifteen PFGE patterns were further divided into three groups, and 24 of 27 isolates were of the PFGE group I, suggesting that a single bacterial clone widely spread with variation in PFGE patterns.
