Source of Pseudomonas cepacia: ribotyping of isolates from patients and from the environment.

Ribotyping, an analysis of bacterial strain identity based on chromosomal restriction fragment length polymorphisms, was performed on 68 isolates of Pseudomonas cepacia recovered from patients receiving care at the two children's hospitals in Philadelphia and from environmental samples. Twenty different ribotypes were identified. Ribotype R3 predominated among isolates from all three sources. These findings are consistent with the acquisition of P. cepacia from the environment or by person-to-person transmission.