Techniques for investigation of an apparent outbreak of infections with Candida glabrata

A cluster of Candida glabrata isolates recovered from seven patients in an intensive care unit over a 10-week period were compared with a collection of isolates from six epidemiologically distinct outpatients and a reference strain by several DNA typing methods. Restriction enzyme analysis with HinfI distinguished 13 strains from the 14 sources and was the method of choice. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis and random amplification of polymorphic DNA both detected nine types from the 14 sources; however, the results of these two methods did not always correlate. These methods demonstrated that five of the seven patients had distinguishable strains and that cross-infection was unlikely.