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Journal of Clinical Microbiology, July 1998, p. 1840-1845, Vol. 36, No. 7
0095-1137/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Diagnosis of Mycobacterium microti Infections among Humans by Using Novel Genetic Markers

Dick van Soolingen,1,* Adri G. M. van der Zanden,2 Petra E. W. de Haas,1 Gerda T. Noordhoek,3 Albert Kiers,4 Norbert A. Foudraine,5 Francoise Portaels,6 Arend H. J. Kolk,7 Kristin Kremer,1 and Jan D. A. van Embden8

Diagnostic Laboratory for Infectious Diseases and Perinatal Screening1 and Research Laboratory for Infectious Diseases,8 National Institute of Public Health and the Environment, 3720 BA Bilthoven, Regional Public Health Laboratory Deventer, 7400 GD Deventer,2 Regional Public Health Laboratory Friesland, 8900 JA Leeuwarden,3 Municipal Health Service Noord Friesland, 8901 BK Leeuwarden,4 National AIDS Therapy Evaluation Centre, Academical Medical Centre,5 and Department of Biomedical Research, Royal Tropical Institute,7 1105 AZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands, and Mycobacteriology Unit, Institute of Tropical Medicine Prince Leopold, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium6

Received 29 September 1997/Returned for modification 10 February 1998/Accepted 22 April 1998

As a result of DNA typing of Mycobacterium microti isolates from animals in the United Kingdom and The Netherlands, we diagnosed four human M. microti infections. These are the first M. microti infections among humans to be reported. Three of the patients were immunocompromised and suffered from generalized forms of tuberculosis. The fourth patient was a 34-year-old immunocompetent male with a persistent cough and undefined X-ray abnormalities. Two of the M. microti infections were recognized by their IS6110 restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) patterns, which showed a high degree of similarity with those of M. microti strains isolated from a pig and a ferret in The Netherlands. The two other human M. microti infections were recognized by using the recently developed DNA fingerprinting method, "spoligotyping," directly on clinical material. All M. microti isolates from the United Kingdom and The Netherlands were found to contain an exceptionally short genomic direct repeat region, resulting in identical two-spacer sequence reactions in spoligotyping. In contrast, the highly similar IS6110 RFLP patterns of the vole strains from the United Kingdom differed considerably from the RFLPs of all M. microti strains isolated in The Netherlands, suggesting that geographic isolation led to divergent strains in the United Kingdom and on the continent.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Diagnostic Laboratory for Infectious Diseases and Perinatal Screening, National Institute of Public Health and the Environment, P.O. Box 1, 3720 BA Bilthoven, The Netherlands. Phone: 31 30-2742363. Fax: 31 30-2744418. E-mail: D.van.Soolingen{at}rivm.nl.

Journal of Clinical Microbiology, July 1998, p. 1840-1845, Vol. 36, No. 7
0095-1137/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


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