This Article Full Text (PDF) Other Versions of this Article: JCM.00170-07v1 45/6/1851    most recent Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Reprints and Permissions Copyright Information Books from ASM Press MicrobeWorld Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Lari, N. Articles by Garzelli, C. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Lari, N. Articles by Garzelli, C.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

J. Clin. Microbiol. doi:10.1128/JCM.00170-07
Copyright (c) 2007, American Society for Microbiology and/or the Listed Authors/Institutions. All Rights Reserved.

A THREE-YEAR LONGITUDINAL STUDY OF THE GENOTYPES OF MYCOBACTERIUM TUBERCULOSIS ISOLATES IN TUSCANY, ITALY

Dipartimento di Patologia Sperimentale, Biotecnologie Mediche, Infettivologia ed Epidemiologia, Università di Pisa, I-56127 Pisa; Unite de la Tuberculose et des Mycobacteries, Institut Pasteur de Guadeloupe, Morne Joliviere, BP 484, F-97165 Pointe-a-Pitre Cedex, Guadeloupe, France; Centro Regionale di Riferimento per i Micobatteri, Laboratorio di Microbiologia e Virologia, Ospedale Careggi, I-50134 Firenze, Italy

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. Email: garzelli{at}biomed.unipi.it.

	Abstract

The genetic diversity of 829 strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolated in Tuscany, Italy, a country with a low prevalence of tuberculosis, during a three-year period from 480 Italian-born and 349 foreign-born patients was determined by spoligotyping. The predominant spoligotype families were T (30.2% of isolates), Haarlem (19.9%) and LAM (11.2%); the remaining isolates were distributed among the Beijing (6.5%), S (4.2%), EAI (3.0%), Bovis (2.3%), CAS (2.1%), Africanum (1.3%), and X (1.2%) families or were undefined (2.7%) or orphan (14.1%) isolates. Isolates of the families T, Haarlem, Bovis, and X were distributed among Italian- and foreign-born patients almost proportionally to the patients' numbers. Isolates of the LAM family were prevalent in foreign-born people (13.5% vs 9.6% in Italian-born patients). Isolates of the S family were found almost exclusively in Italian-born patients, whilst strains of families EAI and CAS were isolated almost exclusively from foreign-born patients; Africanum isolates were all from African-born patients. The isolates of the Beijing family showed a trend to a steady increase during the survey. Prevalence of Beijing strains was 11.7% among foreign-born people and 2.7% among Italian-born patients. The Beijing strains were typed by the standardized IS6110-RFLP assay that yielded a total of 38 distinct IS6110 patterns; 21 isolates (39.6%) occurred in 6 distinct clusters; of these, 3 contained two isolates, and the other 3 contained four, five and six isolates each, thus demonstrating that Beijing strains caused several tuberculosis outbreaks in the region. These findings indicate that transmission of Beijing strains between the immigrants and autochthonous population has frequently occurred and suggests an ongoing active transmission of the Beijing genotype in the region.

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Kik, S. V., Verver, S., van Soolingen, D., de Haas, P. E. W., Cobelens, F. G., Kremer, K., van Deutekom, H., Borgdorff, M. W. (2008). Tuberculosis Outbreaks Predicted by Characteristics of First Patients in a DNA Fingerprint Cluster. Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med. 178: 96-104 [Abstract] [Full Text]