Skip to main content
PMC home page
Journal of Clinical Microbiology logoLink to Journal of Clinical Microbiology
. 1996 Apr;34(4):1014–1016. doi: 10.1128/jcm.34.4.1014-1016.1996

Molecular study of nosocomial nocardiosis outbreak involving heart transplant recipients.

L Exmelin 1, B Malbruny 1, M Vergnaud 1, F Prosvost 1, P Boiron 1, C Morel 1
PMCID: PMC228943  PMID: 8815073

Abstract

Randomly amplified polymorphic DNA analysis and rRNA gene restriction patterns (ribotyping) were compared as methods of investigating a nosocomial outbreak of nocardiosis involving three heart transplant recipients. No clear distinctions between three clinically related isolates and four unrelated strains were obtained by ribotyping. On the contrary, randomly amplified polymorphic DNA analysis with two selected primers, primers 2650 and DKU49, showed one pattern for the three related isolates and four patterns for the unrelated strains.

Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (215.1 KB).

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Baddour L. M., Baselski V. S., Herr M. J., Christensen G. D., Bisno A. L. Nocardiosis in recipients of renal transplants: evidence for nosocomial acquisition. Am J Infect Control. 1986 Oct;14(5):214–219. doi: 10.1016/0196-6553(86)90120-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Beaman B. L., Beaman L. Nocardia species: host-parasite relationships. Clin Microbiol Rev. 1994 Apr;7(2):213–264. doi: 10.1128/cmr.7.2.213. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Beaman B. L., Boiron P., Beaman L., Brownell G. H., Schaal K., Gombert M. E. Nocardia and nocardiosis. J Med Vet Mycol. 1992;30 (Suppl 1):317–331. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Boiron P., Provost F. Characterization of Nocardia, Rhodococcus and Gordona species by in vitro susceptibility testing. Zentralbl Bakteriol. 1990 Nov;274(2):203–213. doi: 10.1016/s0934-8840(11)80103-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Boiron P., Provost F., Chevrier G., Dupont B. Review of nocardial infections in France 1987 to 1990. Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis. 1992 Aug;11(8):709–714. doi: 10.1007/BF01989975. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Boiron P., Provost F. Enzymatic characterization of Nocardia spp. and related bacteria by API ZYM profile. Mycopathologia. 1990 Apr;110(1):51–56. doi: 10.1007/BF00442770. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Grimont F., Grimont P. A. Ribosomal ribonucleic acid gene restriction patterns as potential taxonomic tools. Ann Inst Pasteur Microbiol. 1986 Sep-Oct;137B(2):165–175. doi: 10.1016/s0769-2609(86)80105-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Houang E. T., Lovett I. S., Thompson F. D., Harrison A. R., Joekes A. M., Goodfellow M. Nocardia asteroides infection--a transmissible disease. J Hosp Infect. 1980 Mar;1(1):31–40. doi: 10.1016/0195-6701(80)90029-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Krick J. A., Stinson E. B., Remington J. S. Nocardia infection in heart transplant patients. Ann Intern Med. 1975 Jan;82(1):18–26. doi: 10.7326/0003-4819-82-1-18. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Lasker B. A., Brown J. M., McNeil M. M. Identification and epidemiological typing of clinical and environmental isolates of the genus Rhodococcus with use of a digoxigenin-labeled rDNA gene probe. Clin Infect Dis. 1992 Aug;15(2):223–233. doi: 10.1093/clinids/15.2.223. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. McNeil M. M., Brown J. M. The medically important aerobic actinomycetes: epidemiology and microbiology. Clin Microbiol Rev. 1994 Jul;7(3):357–417. doi: 10.1128/cmr.7.3.357. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Palittapongarnpim P., Chomyc S., Fanning A., Kunimoto D. DNA fragment length polymorphism analysis of Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates by arbitrarily primed polymerase chain reaction. J Infect Dis. 1993 Apr;167(4):975–978. doi: 10.1093/infdis/167.4.975. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Patterson J. E., Chapin-Robertson K., Waycott S., Farrel P., McGeer A., McNeil M. M., Edberg S. C. Pseudoepidemic of Nocardia asteroides associated with a mycobacterial culture system. J Clin Microbiol. 1992 May;30(5):1357–1360. doi: 10.1128/jcm.30.5.1357-1360.1992. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Pitcher D., Johnson A., Allerberger F., Woodford N., George R. An investigation of nosocomial infection with Corynebacterium jeikeium in surgical patients using a ribosomal RNA gene probe. Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis. 1990 Sep;9(9):643–648. doi: 10.1007/BF01964264. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Prevost G., Jaulhac B., Piemont Y. DNA fingerprinting by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis is more effective than ribotyping in distinguishing among methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus isolates. J Clin Microbiol. 1992 Apr;30(4):967–973. doi: 10.1128/jcm.30.4.967-973.1992. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Sahathevan M., Harvey F. A., Forbes G., O'Grady J., Gimson A., Bragman S., Jensen R., Philpott-Howard J., Williams R., Casewell M. W. Epidemiology, bacteriology and control of an outbreak of Nocardia asteroides infection on a liver unit. J Hosp Infect. 1991 Jun;18 (Suppl A):473–480. doi: 10.1016/0195-6701(91)90059-h. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Schaal K. P. Medical and microbiological problems arising from airborne infection in hospitals. J Hosp Infect. 1991 Jun;18 (Suppl A):451–459. doi: 10.1016/0195-6701(91)90056-E. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Sela S., Clark-Curtiss J. E., Bercovier H. Characterization and taxonomic implications of the rRNA genes of Mycobacterium leprae. J Bacteriol. 1989 Jan;171(1):70–73. doi: 10.1128/jb.171.1.70-73.1989. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Simpson G. L., Stinson E. B., Egger M. J., Remington J. S. Nocardial infections in the immunocompromised host: A detailed study in a defined population. Rev Infect Dis. 1981 May-Jun;3(3):492–507. doi: 10.1093/clinids/3.3.492. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Stevens D. A., Pier A. C., Beaman B. L., Morozumi P. A., Lovett I. S., Houang E. T. Laboratory evaluation of an outbreak of nocardiosis in immunocompromised hosts. Am J Med. 1981 Dec;71(6):928–934. doi: 10.1016/0002-9343(81)90302-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Wallace R. J., Jr, Brown B. A., Tsukamura M., Brown J. M., Onyi G. O. Clinical and laboratory features of Nocardia nova. J Clin Microbiol. 1991 Nov;29(11):2407–2411. doi: 10.1128/jcm.29.11.2407-2411.1991. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Wallace R. J., Jr, Tsukamura M., Brown B. A., Brown J., Steingrube V. A., Zhang Y. S., Nash D. R. Cefotaxime-resistant Nocardia asteroides strains are isolates of the controversial species Nocardia farcinica. J Clin Microbiol. 1990 Dec;28(12):2726–2732. doi: 10.1128/jcm.28.12.2726-2732.1990. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Williams J. G., Kubelik A. R., Livak K. J., Rafalski J. A., Tingey S. V. DNA polymorphisms amplified by arbitrary primers are useful as genetic markers. Nucleic Acids Res. 1990 Nov 25;18(22):6531–6535. doi: 10.1093/nar/18.22.6531. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Wilson J. P., Turner H. R., Kirchner K. A., Chapman S. W. Nocardial infections in renal transplant recipients. Medicine (Baltimore) 1989 Jan;68(1):38–57. doi: 10.1097/00005792-198901000-00003. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  25. van Belkum A., Bax R., Peerbooms P., Goessens W. H., van Leeuwen N., Quint W. G. Comparison of phage typing and DNA fingerprinting by polymerase chain reaction for discrimination of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus strains. J Clin Microbiol. 1993 Apr;31(4):798–803. doi: 10.1128/jcm.31.4.798-803.1993. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Journal of Clinical Microbiology are provided here courtesy of American Society for Microbiology (ASM)

RESOURCES