title: Real-time molecular epidemiology of tuberculosis by direct genotyping of smear-positive clinical specimens.
abstract: We applied MIRU-VNTR (mycobacterial interspersed repetitive-unit-variable-number tandem-repeat typing) to directly analyze the bacilli present in 61 stain-positive specimens from tuberculosis patients. A complete MIRU type (24 loci) was obtained for all but one (no amplification in one locus) of the specimens (98.4%), and the allelic values fully correlated with those obtained from the corresponding cultures. Our study is the first to demonstrate that real-time genotyping of Mycobacterium tuberculosis can be achieved, fully transforming the way in which molecular epidemiology techniques can be integrated into control programs.
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Microbiología y Enfermedades Infecciosas, Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañón, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: María
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Alonso
authors.forename: Marta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Herranz
authors.forename: Miguel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Martínez Lirola
authors.forename: Milagros
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: González-Rivera
authors.forename: Emilio
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bouza
authors.forename: Darío
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: García de Viedma
mesh_terms: D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D018598:Minisatellite Repeats; D017720:Molecular Epidemiology; D058889:Molecular Typing; D009169:Mycobacterium tuberculosis / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D013183:Sputum / Q000382:microbiology*; D014376:Tuberculosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology*
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial