Epidemiological analysis of Salmonella enteritidis from human outbreaks by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis.

To determine the extent of genetic diversity among isolates of Salmonella enteritidis obtained from outbreaks in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan, from 1989 to 1994, we analyzed a total of 55 isolates of S. enteritidis obtained from 13 distinct outbreaks with pulsed-field gel electrophoresis. These isolates showed three different patterns in pulsed-field profile with Bln I digestion. The groups A, B and C consisted of three outbreaks isolates (Dice coefficient, F = 1), of seven outbreaks (F = 0.56-0.94) and of three outbreaks (F = 0.65-0.78), respectively. This result suggests that a few limited clonal lines of S. enteritidis were successively causing outbreaks in this area from 1989 to 1994.