title: Genetic diversity of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis East African-Indian family in three tropical Asian countries.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The Beijing lineage of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) is the most predominant MTB strain in Asian countries and is spreading worldwide, however, the East African-Indian (EAI) lineage is also particularly prevalent in many tropical Asian countries. The evolutionary relationships among MTB EAI isolates from Taiwan and those of tropical Asian countries remain unknown.
  
  
  METHODS
  The EAI strains collected from patients in Taiwan were analyzed using spacer oligonucleotide typing and mycobacterial interspersed repetitive unit-variable number of tandem repeats (MIRU-VNTR) typing, and compared with published profiles from Cambodia and Singapore to investigate potential epidemiological linkages.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Among the three countries, the EAI lineage was most prevalent in Cambodia (60%; Singapore, 25.62%; and Taiwan, 21.85%), having also the highest rates of multidrug resistance and lowest rates of clustering of MTB isolates. We describe a convenient method using seven selected MIRU-VNTR loci for first-line typing to discriminate Beijing and EAI lineages. A potential epidemiological linkage in these tropical Asian countries is also discussed based on a minimum-spanning tree constructed using 24 MIRU-VNTR loci of MTB EAI strains.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study identified evolutionary relationships among MTB EAI isolates from Taiwan and those of two other tropical Asian countries, Cambodia and Singapore.
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology, National Health Research Institutes, Zhunan, Miaoli, Taiwan, ROC; Department of Internal Medicine, Ditmanson Medical Foundation Chia-Yi Christian Hospital, Chia-Yi, Taiwan, ROC. Electronic address: yihyuan.chen@msa.hinet.net.
authors.forename: Yih-Yuan
authors.initials: YY
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology, National Health Research Institutes, Zhunan, Miaoli, Taiwan, ROC.
authors.forename: Jia-Ru
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology, National Health Research Institutes, Zhunan, Miaoli, Taiwan, ROC.
authors.forename: Wei-Feng
authors.initials: WF
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology, National Health Research Institutes, Zhunan, Miaoli, Taiwan, ROC.
authors.forename: Chih-Hao
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Hsu
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology, National Health Research Institutes, Zhunan, Miaoli, Taiwan, ROC.
authors.forename: Han-Yin
authors.initials: HY
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.affiliation: Division of Clinical Pathology, Department of Pathology, Tri-Service General Hospital and National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC.
authors.forename: Jun-Ren
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology, National Health Research Institutes, Zhunan, Miaoli, Taiwan, ROC.
authors.forename: Shu-Chen
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Kuo
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology, National Health Research Institutes, Zhunan, Miaoli, Taiwan, ROC.
authors.forename: Ih-Jen
authors.initials: IJ
authors.lastname: Su
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Ditmanson Medical Foundation Chia-Yi Christian Hospital, Chia-Yi, Taiwan, ROC.
authors.forename: Ming-Shian
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Ditmanson Medical Foundation Chia-Yi Christian Hospital, Chia-Yi, Taiwan, ROC.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology, National Health Research Institutes, Zhunan, Miaoli, Taiwan, ROC. Electronic address: hydou@nhri.org.tw.
authors.forename: Horng-Yunn
authors.initials: HY
authors.lastname: Dou
mesh_terms: D044466:Asian People; D002160:Cambodia / Q000453:epidemiology; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D021901:DNA, Intergenic / Q000235:genetics; D005819:Genetic Markers / Q000235:genetics; D014644:Genetic Variation / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D020071:Interspersed Repetitive Sequences / Q000235:genetics; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D058889:Molecular Typing; D009169:Mycobacterium tuberculosis / Q000145:classification / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D012846:Singapore / Q000453:epidemiology; D013624:Taiwan / Q000453:epidemiology; D014397:Tuberculosis, Pulmonary / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D021901:DNA, Intergenic; D005819:Genetic Markers
keywords: East African–Indian family; Mycobacterium tuberculosis; tropical Asian countries