SHORT REPORT

Misidentification of a genomovar of Burkholderia cepacia by recA restriction fragment length polymorphism

J E Moore¹, B C Millar¹, J Xu¹, M Crowe¹, A O B Redmond², J S Elborn³

¹ Northern Ireland Public Health Laboratory, Department of Bacteriology, Belfast City Hospital, Belfast BT9 7AD, Northern Ireland, UK
² Northern Ireland Regional Paediatric Cystic Fibrosis Centre, Royal Belfast for Sick Children, Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK
³ Northern Ireland Regional Adult Cystic Fibrosis Centre, Belfast City Hospital

Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
Dr J E Moore, Northern Ireland Public Health Laboratory, Department of Bacteriology, Belfast City Hospital, Belfast BT9 7AD, Northern Ireland, UK;
jemoore{at}niphl.dnet.co.uk

An 8 year old girl with cystic fibrosis presented with a pulmonary exacerbation from which Burkholderia cepacia was cultured. Subsequent polymerase chain reaction restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis of the recA gene suggested the presence of B cepacia Genomovar V (Burkholderia vietnamiensis); however, on subsequent sequence typing, this isolate was confirmed as B cepacia Genomovar IIIb. This report outlines the potential difficulties in the correct characterisation of the various genomovars within the B cepacia complex of organisms, which has particularly important implications for patient segregation and infection control.

Keywords: Burkholderia cepacia; cystic fibrosis, Genomovar, infection control, recA

Abbreviations: CF, cystic fibrosis; PCR, polymerase chain reaction; RFLP, restriction fragment length polymorphism

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