An improved protocol for pulsed-field gel electrophoresis typing of Clostridium difficile

Abstract

Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) is the ‘gold standard’ technique for bacterial typing and has proved to be discriminatory and reproducible for typing Clostridium difficile. Nevertheless, a high proportion of strains are non-typable by this technique due to the degradation of the DNA during the process. The introduction of several modifications in the PFGE standard procedure increased typability from 40 % (90 isolates) to 100 % (220 isolates) while maintaining the high degree of discrimination and reproducibility of the technique.