Open AccessFirst Insight into Genetic Diversity of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis Complex in Albania Obtained by Multilocus Variable-Number Tandem-Repeat Analysis and Spoligotyping Reveals the Presence of Beijing Multidrug-Resistant Isolates
Author(s) -
Silva Tafaj,
Jian Zhang,
Yolande Hauck,
Christine Pourcel,
Hasan Hafizi,
Grigor Zoraqi,
Christophe Sola
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
journal of clinical microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.349
H-Index - 255
eISSN - 1070-633X
pISSN - 0095-1137
DOI - 10.1128/jcm.02284-08
Subject(s) - biology , mycobacterium tuberculosis , beijing , genetic diversity , tuberculosis , virology , variable number tandem repeat , genetics , genetic variation , microbiology and biotechnology , genotype , gene , china , medicine , geography , population , environmental health , archaeology , pathology
We characterized a set of 100Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex clinical isolates from tuberculosis (TB) patients in Albania, typing them with a 24-locus variable-number tandem-repeat-spoligotyping scheme. Depending on the cluster definition, 43 to 49 patients were distributed into 15 to 16 clusters which were likely to be epidemiologically linked, indicative of a recent transmission rate of 28 to 34%. This result suggests that TB is under control in Albania. However, two multidrug-resistant (MDR) Beijing genotypes harboring the same S531A mutation on therpoB gene were also found, suggesting a potential recent transmission of MDR TB. Three brand new genotypes, Albania-1 to Albania-3, are also described.