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Summary
Burkholderia cepacia has become an increasingly recognized pathogen among cystic fibrosis (CF) patients and its potential role in declining pulmonary function or unexpected fatal outcome has caused widespread concern. Direct person-to-person transmission has been documented and a segregation policy of CF patients colonized with B.cepacia from non-colonized CF patients is widely adopted. Since this policy has a dramatic impact on social behaviour of CF patients it is imperative that clinical laboratories accurately isolate and identify B.cepacia in the respiratory secretions.
In order to comprehend the epidemiology of B.cepacia in the Belgian CF population a multicentre study was conducted during a period of 1 year (March’93-February’94).
B.cepacia was isolated in only 12 of 465 CF patients (2.6%). Roudne biochemical tests identified these strains as authentic B.cepacia. However, the combined data from protein and DNA-DNA hybridization analyses revealed that the Belgian CF “B.cepacia” isolates showed patterns different from reference B.cepacia isolates and belong to 3 different, newly identified Burkholderia genomovars, but not to B.cepacia.