Biotyping of Enterobacteriaceae as a test for the evaluation of isolation systems

Arguments in favour of biotyping of Enterobacteriaceae excreted in the faeces of isolated patients, as a method of investigating the efficiency of the isolation procedures, are presented as well as a technical outline of the procedure. The study included three kidney transplantation patients, five acute myeloid leukaemia patients and four healthy persons as controls.The results show, apart from new colonizations during isolation, a difference in the mean number of contaminations and colonizations with different Enterobacteriaceae biotypes. It is concluded from these results, that the isolation procedures were not completely effective and that the AML patients studied had a decreased colonization resistance of their digestive tract. This was less evident in the kidney transplant group.