Molecular epidemiology of Pseudomonas aeruginosa in adult patients with cystic fibrosis in Northern Ireland.

Isolates (n = 51) of Pseudomonas aeruginosa obtained from the sputa of 29 adult patients attending the Regional Cystic Fibrosis Centre in Northern Ireland were compared using an enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus sequence (ERIC2) primer in a random amplification of polymorphic DNA (RAPD) polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method. Resulting banding patterns showed a high degree of genetic heterogeneity among all isolates from the patients examined, suggesting a non-clonal relationship between isolates from these patients, when employing this genotyping technique.