Open AccessMolecular Epidemiology of Tuberculosis in a Rural Area of High Prevalence in South India: Implications for Disease Control and Prevention
Author(s) -
Sujatha Narayanan,
Sulochana D. Das,
Renu Garg,
Lalitha Hari,
Vijay Bhaskara Rao,
Thomas Frieden,
P R Narayanan
Publication year - 2002
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.40.12.4785-4788.2002
Subject(s) - tuberculosis , epidemiology , molecular epidemiology , mycobacterium tuberculosis , medicine , transmission (telecommunications) , disease , restriction fragment length polymorphism , environmental health , biology , genotype , pathology , genetics , electrical engineering , gene , engineering
Molecular and conventional epidemiologic techniques were used to study the mechanisms and risk factors for tuberculosis transmission in a rural area with high prevalence in south India. Restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis with IS6110 and direct repeat probes was performed with 378 Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates from patients. Forty-one percent of M. tuberculosis isolates harbored a single copy of IS6110. Of 378 patients, 236 had distinct strains; 142 (38%) shared a strain with other patients, indicating recent infection. Older patients, those detected by a house-to-house community survey, and those hospitalized in a sanatorium were more likely to have had a recent infection. These findings suggest that the majority of the tuberculosis cases in south India were due to reactivation; therefore, efforts to control tuberculosis should be sustained.