Molecular typing

The epidemiological study of infectious diseases is used to determine the clonal relationship between various isolates of the same bacterial species. Different techniques can be used to distinguish and classify strains of a given bacterial species. This discrimination at the strain level is useful for understanding different aspects of the epidemiology of bacterial diseases. Our group has long been using various techniques such as pulsed field electrophoresis or multicolcus sequence typing for the molecular characterization of a broad spectrum of bacterial pathogens in different livestock species. The application of these techniques has allowed to obtain results, in some cases, of great epidemiological value. - Resarch of existence and extent of an outbreak - Identification of reservoirs and sources of infection - Monitoring the dissemination of particular clones, etc..