Misidentification of a genomovar of Burkholderia cepacia by recA restriction fragment length polymorphism
- 1Northern Ireland Public Health Laboratory, Department of Bacteriology, Belfast City Hospital, Belfast BT9 7AD, Northern Ireland, UK
- 2Northern Ireland Regional Paediatric Cystic Fibrosis Centre, Royal Belfast for Sick Children, Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK
- 3Northern Ireland Regional Adult Cystic Fibrosis Centre, Belfast City Hospital
- Correspondence to: Dr J E Moore, Northern Ireland Public Health Laboratory, Department of Bacteriology, Belfast City Hospital, Belfast BT9 7AD, Northern Ireland, UK; jemoore{at}niphl.dnet.co.uk
- Accepted 12 September 2001
Abstract
An 8 year old girl with cystic fibrosis presented with a pulmonary exacerbation from which Burkholderia cepacia was cultured. Subsequent polymerase chain reaction restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis of the recA gene suggested the presence of B cepacia Genomovar V (Burkholderia vietnamiensis); however, on subsequent sequence typing, this isolate was confirmed as B cepacia Genomovar IIIb. This report outlines the potential difficulties in the correct characterisation of the various genomovars within the B cepacia complex of organisms, which has particularly important implications for patient segregation and infection control.
