Clonal diversity of Salmonella enterica serotype Typhi isolated from patients with typhoid fever in Tehran.

In this study, antimicrobial susceptibility test and genetic typing were used to characterize 15 Salmonella enterica serotype Typhi (S. Typhi) isolates recovered from sporadic cases of typhoid fever in Tehran, Iran during 2004. Antimicrobial susceptibility test showed that all isolates were susceptible to 20 antimicrobials examined in this study. Analysis of insertion elements showed that 2 IS200 types with 10 and 11 copies were present. 11 of the 15 isolates were found to possess 10 IS200 elements residing on fragments from 23 to 2.3 kb. Comparison of the RiboPrinter (automated ribotyping) patterns of S. Typhi showed that 60% (9/15) of the isolates belonged to a single ribotype. PCR based random amplified polymorphic DNA analysis (RAPD) and enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus (ERIC) and pulsed-field gel electrophresis (PFGE) were also performed. ERIC and RAPD-PCR method showed 2 and 3 genotyping patterns amongst the isolates, respectively. The PFGE typing was carried out by using XbaI restriction enzyme, and 7 restriction patterns were observed. Overall, the molecular typing methods applied in this study showed that the isolated S. Typhi populations were highly polyclonal as shown by PFGE.