title: Mycobacterium tuberculosis spoligotypes circulating in the Syrian population: A retrospective study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To characterize by spoligotyping clinical isolates of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) collected between July 2003 and October 2005 from all Syrian provinces (muhafazat).
  
  
  METHODS
  All isolates (n=96) were cultured and identified by biochemical characteristics. DNA extracts of these samples were amplified by PCR and genotyped by spoligotyping.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Twelve patterns were identified: 46.8% of the strains belonged to T 1 family; 20.8% to LAM 9; 10.4% to CAS; 9.3% to Haarlem 3; 4.1% to Haarlem 1; 2.1% to Family 34; and 1% to each of Family 36, EAI 5, LAM 1, LAM 8, T 3, and X 3 families. The noticeable absence of the Beijing family was not consistent with the patterns reported in most neighboring countries.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A more inclusive study of the Syrian population is necessary to more accurately identify most of the prevailing families in the country.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Medicine, Lebanese University, Hadath Campus, Lebanon.
authors.forename: Nora
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Bedrossian
authors.affiliation: National Commission for Biotechnology, Damascus, Syria. Electronic address: a.rahmo@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Abdulkader
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rahmo
authors.affiliation: Sciences 1 Biology Dept., Lebanese University, Hadath, Lebanon.
authors.forename: Walid
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Karam
authors.affiliation: Health and Environment Microbiology Laboratory, AZM Center for Biotechnology and Faculty of Public Health, Lebanese University, Tripoli, Lebanon.
authors.forename: Monzer
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hamze
keywords: DOTS; Epidemiology; M. tuberculosis; Primary health care (PHC); Spoligotyping; Syria