Use of random amplification of polymorphic DNA (RAPD) and PCR-fingerprinting for genotyping a Scedosporium prolificans (inflatum) outbreak in four leukemic patients.

Four isolates of the pathogenic fungus Scedosporium prolificans (inflatum), causing a previously reported nosocomial outbreak in four leukemic patients, were typed by random amplification of polymorphic DNA (RAPD) with two different 10-mer primers and PCR-fingerprinting with the core sequence of phage M13 as a single primer. Both techniques allowed 10 additional clinical isolates of Scedosporium prolificans from different areas of Spain, including Scedosporium prolificans NCPF 2884, to be classified into 10 different molecular types. The four outbreak isolates consisted of three molecular types with two patients sharing a similar strain, and the remaining two patients infected by two different strains.