OBJECTIVETo explore and establish fast and sensitive typing diagnostic methods on intestinal pathogen.

METHODSAll 29 isolates of Shigella. sonnei and 12 strains of Escherichia coli O157:H7 (EHEC O157:H7) isolated in 1999 were carried out for typing by using pulse-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) and phage typing.

RESULTSPFGE results of 4 outbreak incidents caused by Shigella. sonnei showed that the PFGE patterns of the strains isolated from the same incident were almost the same. It was also the same during analysing the 2 outbreak incidents caused by EHEC O157:H7, however, the PFGE patterns of the 3 individual strains of EHEC O157:H7 were different. Moreover, the phage typing method showed its fine typing ability while its being used in the analysing 12 strains of EHEC O157:H7.

CONCLUSIONThe fine typing ability and reliability of PFGE was helpful for finding out the heredity background of intestinal pathogen and the infectious resource of the outbreak. And the epidemic situation might thus be effectively prevented from spreading.

Bacteriophage Typing ; methods ; Disease Outbreaks ; Electrophoresis, Gel, Pulsed-Field ; Enterobacteriaceae Infections ; epidemiology ; Escherichia coli O157 ; classification ; Humans ; Japan ; epidemiology ; Shigella sonnei ; classification