title: Four year longitudinal study of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex isolates in a region of North-Eastern Italy.
abstract: Recent reports have suggested a change of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex genetic diversity in Western Europe due to an increasing proportion of imported cases of tuberculosis (TB). This study analyzed a total of 705 M. tuberculosis strains isolated from 2006 to 2009 in Veneto, a North-Eastern Italian region, to see the impact of foreign-born cases vs. Italian patients on prevailing TB epidemiology. Strains were genotyped using spoligotyping followed by comparison with international genotyping database SITVIT2. Six spoligotyping clusters with suspected phylogeographical specificity for imported cases, were typed by 15-loci MIRUs for a finer characterization. Overall, 410 (58.16%) strains were isolated from foreign-born patients, while 295 (41.84%) were isolated from Italian patients. Older patients (>70 years, i.e., 46.4% of cases) predominated among Italians while younger age groups prevailed among foreign-born patients. Our results suggest that despite a high proportion of reactivation of latent TB infection in elderly Italian-born patients, active TB transmission between foreign-born and Italian patients may be ongoing, and argue in favor of an increased TB surveillance among immigrants to combat TB epidemic in Italy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Medicine, University of Padova, Padova, Italy; U.O. Microbiologia e Virologia, Azienda Ospedaliera di Padova, Padova, Italy.
authors.forename: Loredana
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Fallico
authors.affiliation: Supranational TB Reference Laboratory, Unité de la Tuberculose et des Mycobactéries, Institut Pasteur de Guadeloupe, Abymes, Guadeloupe, France.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Couvin
authors.affiliation: U.O. Microbiologia e Virologia, Azienda Ospedaliera di Padova, Padova, Italy.
authors.forename: Marta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Peracchi
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, S. Bortolo Hospital, Vicenza, Italy.
authors.forename: Michela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pascarella
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Medicine, University of Padova, Padova, Italy; U.O. Microbiologia e Virologia, Azienda Ospedaliera di Padova, Padova, Italy.
authors.forename: Elisa
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Franchin
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Medicine, University of Padova, Padova, Italy.
authors.forename: Enrico
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Lavezzo
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, S. Bortolo Hospital, Vicenza, Italy.
authors.forename: Mario
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rassu
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Medicine, University of Padova, Padova, Italy; U.O. Microbiologia e Virologia, Azienda Ospedaliera di Padova, Padova, Italy. Electronic address: riccardo.manganelli@unipd.it.
authors.forename: Riccardo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Manganelli
authors.affiliation: Supranational TB Reference Laboratory, Unité de la Tuberculose et des Mycobactéries, Institut Pasteur de Guadeloupe, Abymes, Guadeloupe, France.
authors.forename: Nalin
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Rastogi
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Medicine, University of Padova, Padova, Italy; U.O. Microbiologia e Virologia, Azienda Ospedaliera di Padova, Padova, Italy.
authors.forename: Giorgio
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Palù
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D005260:Female; D014644:Genetic Variation; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D008875:Middle Aged; D058885:Multilocus Sequence Typing; D009169:Mycobacterium tuberculosis / Q000145:classification / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D010802:Phylogeny; D014376:Tuberculosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Epidemiology; Italy; MIRU-VNTRs; Spoligotyping; Transmission; Tuberculosis