[Comparative pyocine typing of Pseudomonas aeruginosa with different indicator sets (author's transl)].

In a comparative study, 336 strains of Ps. aeruginosa were typed by their pyocine production with the indicator-sets of Gillies and Govan, Govan and Gillies, and with the author's set. The results obtained by either of the three sets of indicators showed a high degree of correlation with the results obtained by means of other sets. These correlations allow a subdivision of strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa into four major subgroups. The possible reasons for the existence of such subgroups and for the correlations between pyocine types and serological groups, which have been demonstrated by other authors, are discussed. For practical purposes and epidemiological investigations the advantages of combined pyocine typing with different sets of indicators are discussed, and a combination of the indicators of Govan and Gillies with the author's set is recommended, giving the most even distribution of epidemiologically unrelated strains of Ps. aeruginosa among different pyocine types with the smallest possible number of indicators.