Discrimination by means of pulsed-field gel electrophoresis between strains of Campylobacter jejuni Lior type 4 derived from sporadic cases and from outbreaks of infection.

The cleavage patterns of the genomic DNA in 42 strains of Campylobacter jejuni Lior type 4, obtained from sporadic cases and from outbreaks of infection were analysed by means of pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE). The cleavage of DNA with SmaI and SalI restriction enzymes showed 16 distinct fragment patterns in 20 sporadic isolates, indicating that they were heterogeneous. On the other hand, the patterns of 22 isolates derived from two outbreaks showed the same unique restriction patterns, respectively. PFGE may therefore prove useful for subclassifying strains of C. jejuni Lior type 4 and for discriminating between strains derived from sporadic cases and those derived from outbreaks of infection.