We have recently suggested a standardisation of the method for fingerprinting Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis using IS900 and restriction endonucleases PstI and BstEII. In 1997, based on a study of 620 strains, 11 RFLP types were detected after digestion with restriction endonuclease Pstl, (designated as A - K) and 15 RFLP types after digestion with restriction endonuclease BstEII (designated as C1-3, C5, C7-17, S1, and I1). After a parallel examination of DNA from individual strains, a total of 23 different RFLP types were detected. These results were complemented by another 140 strains in 1998. DNA fingerprints were scanned by CCD camera and analysed by software Gel Manager (Biosystematika, Tavistock, UK). A total of 740 strains of M.a.paratuberculosis from 10 different species of animals (cattle, sheep, goat, rhinoceros, wild goat, moufflon, fallow deer, roe deer, deer, etc.) from 25 laboratories and 23 countries were analysed. In addition 12 strains isolated from patients with Crohn's disease and 20 strains from the environment were included. From a total of 23 RFLP types, in Europe (13 countries) 15 RFLP types were identified (65.2%), in Australia and New Zealand 6 RFLP types (26.1%), in the USA, 7 RFLP types (30.4%). B-C1 was the most common RFLP type in the 3 continents, which was also found in 13 European countries. The second was RFLP type A-C10, identified in four European countries, the third was RFLP type E-C1, found only in three European countries. 17 RFLP types were identified in cattle, 9 RFLP types in sheep, 5 RFLP types in goats, three RFLP types in wild ruminants. Strains isolated from patients with Crohn's disease were classified to 4 RFLP types. Our research was partially supported by the Ministry of Agriculture (grant no. EP0960006087) and the Ministry of Health of the Czech Republic (grant no. 4211-3/97). Permanent address of Robin du Maine - Hogeschool van Utrecht, Netherlands.