Role of molecular typing in pediatric infection control

Abstract Methodologies for typing have greatly improved our ability to perform epidemiologic investigations of nosocomial infections, particularly in the neonatal and pediatric intensive care units. Phenotyping techniques may provide the first clue that an outbreak is occurring and can be used to complement molecular typing. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis and random amplified polymorphic DNA are the techniques most widely used to investigate nosocomial infections by clinical microbiology laboratories. Binary typing is an emerging molecular technique that holds much promise, but it currently is limited to research laboratories. Molecular typing should be used in conjunction with clinical and epidemiologic data and should supplement, and not be a substitute for, a carefully conducted epidemiologic investigation. Copoyright © 2001 by W.B. Saubders Company