Comparison of pulsed-field gel electrophoresis and amplified fragment length polymorphism techniques for investigating outbreaks of enteritis due to campylobacters

Campylobacters are the most commonly reported cause of acute bacterial enteritis in the United Kingdom and United States, with poultry, milk, and water implicated as sources or vehicles of infection. The majority of campylobacter infections are sporadic, although outbreaks may occur, and these provide an opportunity to evaluate genotypic fingerprinting techniques. In this study, pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) was compared with single-enzyme-amplified fragment length polymorphism (SAFLP). The results for the three separate episodes indicated that SAFLP and PFGE both clustered the strains from the first incident as 100% homologous. The strains from the second and third incidents clustered as distinct from both the first incident and from each other. PFGE is well recognized as a discriminatory fingerprinting technique for campylobacters; however, SAFLP has proven to be equally discriminatory, but far less labor intensive and with the added advantages of less "hands-on" time and inexpensive equipment, it is an excellent alternative to PFGE for investigation of outbreaks.