Evaluation of multiple-locus variable number of tandem repeats analysis for typing livestock-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.

Background: The increasing occurrence of livestock-associated (LA) methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) associated with the clonal complex (CC) 398 within the past years shows the importance of standardized and comparable typing methods for the purposes of molecular surveillance and outbreak detection. Multiple-locus variable number of tandem repeats analysis (MLVA) has recently been described as an alternative and highly discriminative tool for S. aureus.

Identification of intermediate in evolutionary model of enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli O157.

Highly pathogenic enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) O157 cause a spectrum of clinical signs that include diarrhea, bloody diarrhea, and hemolytic uremic syndrome. The current evolutionary model of EHEC O157:H7/H(-) consists of a stepwise evolution scenario proceeding from O55:H7 to a node (hypothetical intermediate) that then branches into sorbitol-fermenting (SF) O157:H(-) and non-SF (NSF) O157:H7. To identify this hypothetical intermediate, we performed single nucleotide polymorphism analysis by sequencing of 92 randomly distributed backbone genomic regions of 40 O157:H7/H(-) isolates.

Comparison of multilocus variable-number tandem-repeat analysis and multilocus sequence typing for differentiation of hemolytic-uremic syndrome-associated Escherichia coli (HUSEC) collection strains.

Multilocus variable-number tandem-repeat analysis (MLVA) was compared to multilocus sequence typing (MLST) to differentiate hemolytic uremic syndrome-associated enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli strains. Although MLVA--like MLST--was highly discriminatory (index of diversity, 0.988 versus 0.

Phylogenetic analysis of enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli O157, Germany, 1987-2008.

Multilocus variable number tandem repeat analysis (MLVA) is a subtyping technique for characterizing human pathogenic bacteria such as enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) O157. We determined the phylogeny of 202 epidemiologically unrelated EHEC O157:H7/H- clinical isolates through 8 MLVA loci obtained in Germany during 1987-2008. Biodiversity in the loci ranged from 0.