Open AccessDNA restriction fragment length polymorphism differentiates recurrence from relapse in treatment failures of Streptococcus pyogenes pharyngitis
Author(s) -
Édouard Bingen,
Erick Denamur,
N Lambert-Zechovsky,
N. Braimi,
M. El Lakany,
Jacques Élion
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
journal of medical microbiology/journal of medical microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.91
H-Index - 117
eISSN - 1473-5644
pISSN - 0022-2615
DOI - 10.1099/00222615-37-3-162
Subject(s) - restriction fragment length polymorphism , ribotyping , streptococcus pyogenes , pharyngitis , biology , restriction fragment , ribosomal dna , streptococcus , microbiology and biotechnology , genetics , dna , polymerase chain reaction , medicine , gene , bacteria , staphylococcus aureus , phylogenetics
In the evaluation of treatment failure in Streptococcus pyogenes pharyngitis it is necessary to distinguish between persistence of the original streptococcus and acquisition of a new strain. We used the analysis of restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) of total DNA and of ribosomal DNA (rDNA) regions (ribotypes) as epidemiological tools to compare 43 pre- and post-treatment S. pyogenes strains obtained from 20 patients. In 16 cases pre- and post-treatment strains gave indistinguishable RFLP patterns of total DNA, strongly suggesting relapse with the same strain. However, in four cases different patterns were obtained for the pre- and post-treatment isolates, indicating recurrence due to the acquisition of a new strain. Ribotyping did not improve discrimination among strains. Thus, analysis of DNA RFLP is a promising method for distinguishing recurrence from relapse in failures of pharyngitis treatment.