The discriminatory power of ribo-PCR compared to conventional ribotyping for epidemiological purposes.

Molecular typing techniques have become increasingly important for confirmation of epidemiological relationships and delimitation of nosocomial outbreaks. The discriminatory power of the two DNA-based typing methods, conventional ribotyping and ribo-PCR, was assessed to distinguish between selected strains of Acinetobacter calcoaceticus, Enterobacter cloacae, Serratia marcescens and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Overall, conventional ribotyping was more discriminatory than ribo-PCR.