Molecular epidemiology of multidrug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis in Eastern Taiwan.
Taiwan initiated a multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) programme in May 2007. Seventy-seven MDR-TB patients were enrolled from May 2007 to February 2009 in Eastern Taiwan. Isolates of 73 (94%) patients were available for genotyping using spoligotyping and MIRU-VNTR (mycobacterial interspersed repetitive unit-variable number of tandem repeats). Spoligotyping results indicated the Beijing strain as the predominant genotype (n = 48, 66%). Of the 73 isolates, 28 (38.4%) had a unique pattern and 45 (61.6%) were clustered pattern strains. Epidemiological links could be established in 21 (46.7%) of the 45 patients with a clustered pattern strain. The proportion of MDR-TB patients with a clustered pattern strain in Eastern Taiwan was high.
Hsu
A-H
AH
Department of Internal Medicine, Buddhist Tzu Chi General Hospital and Tzu Chi University, Hualien, Taiwan.
Lin
C-B
CB
Lee
Y-S
YS
Chiang
C-Y
CY
Chen
L-K
LK
Tsai
Y-S
YS
Lee
J-J
JJ
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015373:Bacterial Typing Techniques / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017720:Molecular Epidemiology / Q000379:methods*; D009169:Mycobacterium tuberculosis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D013624:Taiwan / Q000453:epidemiology; D018088:Tuberculosis, Multidrug-Resistant / Q000235:genetics* / Q000382:microbiology / Q000635:transmission; D055815:Young Adult