[Genomic polymorphism in the resolution of the fundamental and applied problems of microbiology and epidemiology]

As shown in this work, the methods of genomic fingerprinting make it possible to study genotypic links between strains, closely related phenotypically and genotypically, but having different epidemiological significance, to decode the mechanisms of the appearance and formation of epidemic strains, as well as to determine areas of their spread. The application principles of the methods of the study of genomic polymorphism for solving a number of fundamental problems of microbiology and epidemiology, as well as for carrying out effective retrospective and operative epidemiological analysis, are presented. Schemes for the genetic typing of a number of causative agents of bacterial infections are given. As an example, the optimum scheme of the identification and typing of Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains on the basis of polymerase chain reaction is presented and its advantages in comparison with the routine methods of laboratory diagnostics and typing are shown.