title: Evidence that the spread of Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains with the Beijing genotype is human population dependent.
abstract: This study describes a comparative analysis of the Beijing mycobacterial interspersed repetitive unit types of Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates from Cape Town, South Africa, and East Asia. The results show a significant association between the frequency of occurrence of strains from defined Beijing sublineages and the human population from whom they were cultured (P < 0.0001).
authors.affiliation: DST/NRF Centre of Excellence for Biomedical Tuberculosis Research/MRC Centre for Molecular and Cellular Biology, Division of Molecular Biology and Human Genetics, Faculty of Health Sciences, Stellenbosch University, South Africa.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hanekom
authors.forename: G D
authors.initials: GD
authors.lastname: van der Spuy
authors.forename: N C
authors.initials: NC
authors.lastname: Gey van Pittius
authors.forename: C R E
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: McEvoy
authors.forename: S L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Ndabambi
authors.forename: T C
authors.initials: TC
authors.lastname: Victor
authors.forename: E G
authors.initials: EG
authors.lastname: Hoal
authors.forename: P D
authors.initials: PD
authors.lastname: van Helden
authors.forename: R M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Warren
mesh_terms: D002681:China; D005202:Asia, Eastern / Q000453:epidemiology; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D009169:Mycobacterium tuberculosis / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D011157:Population Dynamics; D013019:South Africa / Q000453:epidemiology; D014397:Tuberculosis, Pulmonary / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000635:transmission*