Community-Associated Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Epidemic Clone USA300 in Isolates from Florida and Washington

We examined 299 methicillin-resistant, community-associated Staphylococcus aureus isolates from Florida and Washington State for the presence of the USA300 epidemic clone. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis demonstrated the epidemic clone in 43% of our S. aureus strains and in isolates from both states. The majority of the USA300 isolates (88%) were from wound infections

Comparison of Methods for DNA Isolation from Food Samples for Detection of Shiga Toxin-Producing Escherichia coli by Real-Time PCR

In this study, food samples were intentionally contaminated with Escherichia coli O157:H7, and then DNA was isolated by using four commercial kits. The isolated DNA samples were compared by using real-time PCR detection of the Shiga toxin genes. The four kits tested worked similarly