Applications of molecular methods to epidemiologic investigations of nosocomial infections in a pediatric hospital.

Molecular typing methods are highly discriminatory for strains that cannot be separated by phenotypic methods. They are especially suited to monitoring outbreaks in children's hospitals. In many cases, molecular typing has improved the understanding of the mechanism of nosocomial acquisition of organisms by allowing distinction between endogenous and exogenous infections. Among exogenous infections, it has distinguished between individual and epidemic strains, thus differentiating cross-infection from independent acquisition.