Spoligotyping of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in anthracotic bronchitis.
BACKGROUND
Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection has been shown to be associated with anthracotic bronchitis. However, the typical manifestation of infection is not usually present in infected patients, which raises the question of whether a particular strain of M. tuberculosis is associated with this group of patients.


OBJECTIVE
To determine whether a particular strain of M. tuberculosis is associated with anthracotic bronchitis.


METHODS
We assessed the predominant space oligonucleotide (spoligotype) patterns of M. tuberculosis complex isolated from patients with anthracotic bronchitis and compared the results with tuberculosis (TB) subtype patterns in Iran and other countries.


RESULTS
During a 7-month period (April--October 2006), we enrolled 87 patients (30 men and 57 women) with anthracotic bronchitis, 26% (n = 23) of whom had TB. Spoligotyping of M. tuberculosis among these 23 patients showed four distinct patterns: East-African-Indian (11, 47.8%) and Central-Asian (7, 30.4%), Haarlem I (4, 17.4%) and T-1 (1, 4.3%). When compared with spoligotype patterns of M. tuberculosis in Middle Eastern countries, including Iran, anthracotic bronchitis had similar patterns.


CONCLUSIONS
Our results indicate that the atypical manifestations of TB in anthracotic patients are not caused by any particular subtypes of M. tuberculosis. We conclude that anthracotic bronchitis is actually an atypical presentation of tuberculous infection with common subtypes inside the bronchial mucosa.
Najafizadeh
K
K
National Research Institute of Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases, Department of Pulmonary Medicine, Masih Daneshvari Hospital, Darabad, Tehran, Iran. katynajafi@nritld.ac.ir
Ghorbani
F
F
Farnia
P
P
Shiehmorteza
M
M
Jamali
M
M
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001991:Bronchitis / Q000382:microbiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009169:Mycobacterium tuberculosis / Q000737:chemistry / Q000145:classification / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D009841:Oligonucleotides / Q000032:analysis*; D014376:Tuberculosis / Q000150:complications
D009841:Oligonucleotides