title: Epidemiology of an outbreak of drug-resistant tuberculosis in the U.K. using restriction fragment length polymorphism.
abstract: 1. Drug-resistant tuberculosis is a growing health care problem. When a series of cases occur, it is essential to know if patients with multidrug-resistant disease represent one or a number of separate outbreaks. 2. The epidemiology of an outbreak of isoniazid- and streptomycin-resistant tuberculosis in Blackburn was studied by restriction fragment length polymorphism using a probe for the IS6110 DNA sequence. 3. Mycobacterium tuberculosis from four cases of isoniazid- and streptomycin-resistant disease had an identical restriction fragment length polymorphism pattern. This pattern was not shared by drug-sensitive isolates of M. tuberculosis obtained from Blackburn (n = 8) or London (n = 13) or a M. tuberculosis isolate from a fifth Blackburn case which was resistant to isoniazid alone. 4. This methodology confirmed that all four cases of isoniazid- and streptomycin-resistant disease were part of a single epidemiologically related outbreak of drug-resistant disease. This study demonstrates how the epidemiology of an outbreak of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis in the U.K. can be confirmed by restriction fragment length polymorphism.
authors.affiliation: Department of Respiratory Medicine, St Mary's Hospital Medical School, London, U.K.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Goyal
authors.forename: L P
authors.initials: LP
authors.lastname: Ormerod
authors.forename: R J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Shaw
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D015139:Blotting, Southern; D016172:DNA Fingerprinting; D004352:Drug Resistance, Microbial / Q000235:genetics; D004739:England / Q000453:epidemiology; D005192:Family Health; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007538:Isoniazid; D008297:Male; D009169:Mycobacterium tuberculosis / Q000235:genetics; D012150:Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length; D013307:Streptomycin; D018088:Tuberculosis, Multidrug-Resistant / Q000453:epidemiology*
chemical_list: D007538:Isoniazid; D013307:Streptomycin