title: First 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.
abstract: We characterized a set of 100 Mycobacterium 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 the rpoB gene were also found, suggesting a potential recent transmission of MDR TB. Three brand new genotypes, Albania-1 to Albania-3, are also described.
authors.affiliation: National TB Reference Laboratory, University Hospital of Lung Diseases Shefqet Ndroqi, Tirana, Albania.
authors.forename: Silva
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tafaj
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Yolande
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hauck
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pourcel
authors.forename: Hasan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hafizi
authors.forename: Grigor
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Zoraqi
authors.forename: Christophe
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sola
mesh_terms: D000415:Albania / Q000453:epidemiology; D015373:Bacterial Typing Techniques; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D016172:DNA Fingerprinting / Q000379:methods; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics*; D012321:DNA-Directed RNA Polymerases / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D014644:Genetic Variation; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018598:Minisatellite Repeats; D017720:Molecular Epidemiology; D020125:Mutation, Missense; D009169:Mycobacterium tuberculosis / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D014376:Tuberculosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology*
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D012321:DNA-Directed RNA Polymerases; C105078:RNA polymerase beta subunit