Bacteriocin typing of clinical isolates of Enterobacter cloacae

Abstract

A total of 16 selected bacteriocins of E. cloacae were characterized presumptively. They were noninfectious, sedimentable (105,000 .times. g), resistant to chloroform and trypsin, and nonfilterable. The host ranges were essentially species-specific. Based on susceptibility to .gtoreq. 1 of these 16 bacteriocins, 242 of 308 (78.6%) clinical E. cloacae isolates were typed and assigned to 52 provisional bacteriocin types. Several outbreaks of nosocomial cross-infection were discerned retrospectively. Thus, bacteriocin typing of E. cloacae isolates may prove useful for controlling hospital infection.