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Journal of Clinical Microbiology, May 2009, p. 1581-1584, Vol. 47, No. 5
0095-1137/09/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JCM.02284-08
Copyright © 2009, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

First Insight into Genetic Diversity of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis Complex in Albania Obtained by Multilocus Variable-Number Tandem-Repeat Analysis and Spoligotyping Reveals the Presence of Beijing Multidrug-Resistant Isolates {triangledown}

Silva Tafaj,1,{dagger} Jian Zhang,2,{dagger} Yolande Hauck,3 Christine Pourcel,3 Hasan Hafizi,1 Grigor Zoraqi,4 and Christophe Sola2,5*

National TB Reference Laboratory, University Hospital of Lung Diseases Shefqet Ndroqi, Tirana, Albania,1 Institute of Genetics and Microbiology, UMR8621, IGEPE Team, Universud, CNRS Université Paris-Sud 11, Campus d'Orsay, F-91405 Orsay-Cedex, France,2 Institute of Genetics and Microbiology UMR8621, GPMS Team, Universud, CNRS Université Paris-Sud 11, Campus d'Orsay, F-91405 Orsay-Cedex, France,3 Center of Molecular Diagnosis and Genetic Research Mbreteresha Geraldine, University Hospital of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Tirana, Albania,4 Unité de Génétique Mycobactérienne, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France5

Received 28 November 2008/ Returned for modification 17 February 2009/ Accepted 3 March 2009

We characterized a set of 100 Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex clinical isolates from tuberculosis (TB) patients in Albania, typing them with a 24-locus variable-number tandem-repeat-spoligotyping scheme. Depending on the cluster definition, 43 to 49 patients were distributed into 15 to 16 clusters which were likely to be epidemiologically linked, indicative of a recent transmission rate of 28 to 34%. This result suggests that TB is under control in Albania. However, two multidrug-resistant (MDR) Beijing genotypes harboring the same S531A mutation on the rpoB gene were also found, suggesting a potential recent transmission of MDR TB. Three brand new genotypes, Albania-1 to Albania-3, are also described.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Institute of Genetics and Microbiology, UMR8621, IGEPE Team, Universud, CNRS Université Paris-Sud 11, Campus d'Orsay, F-91405 Orsay-Cedex, France. Phone: 33 (0) 1 69 15 46 48. Fax: 33 (0) 1 69 15 66 78. E-mail: christophe.sola{at}u-psud.fr

{triangledown} Published ahead of print on 11 March 2009.

{dagger} The first two authors contributed equally to the work.

Journal of Clinical Microbiology, May 2009, p. 1581-1584, Vol. 47, No. 5
0095-1137/09/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JCM.02284-08
Copyright © 2009, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.





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