Molecular epidemiological study of Aspergillus fumigatus in a bone marrow transplantation unit by PCR amplification of ribosomal intergenic spacer sequences.

ABSTRACT: We have developed a PCR-based method for the subspecific discrimination of Aspergillus fumigatus types by using two primers designed to amplify the intergenic spacer regions between ribosomal DNA transcription units. The method permitted the reproducible discrimination of 11 distinct DNA types among a total of 119 isolates of A. fumigatus collected from patients and from the environment of a bone marrow transplantation (BMT) unit over a three-year period. Ten DNA types of A. fumigatus were isolated from patients in the BMT unit; eight of these types were also found in the hospital environment, and six of these were present in the unit itself. Thirteen BMT patients developed infection with one of three DNA types some months after these had first been found in the environment of the unit. In

SUBMITTER: Radford SA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC104817 | biostudies-literature | 1998 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature