Molecular Epidemiology of Tuberculosis in a Rural Area of High Prevalence in South India: Implications for Disease Control and Prevention

Narayanan, Sujatha and Das, Sulochana and Garg, R and Hari, Lalitha and Bhaskara Rao, Vijay and Frieden, T R and Narayanan, P R (2002) Molecular Epidemiology of Tuberculosis in a Rural Area of High Prevalence in South India: Implications for Disease Control and Prevention. Journal of Clinical Microbiology, 40 (12). pp. 4785-4788. ISSN Print: 0095-1137; Online: 1098-660X

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Abstract

Molecular and conventional epidemiologic techniques were used to study the mechanisms and risk factors for tuberculosis transmission in a rural area with high prevalence in south India. Restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis with IS6110 and direct repeat probes was performed with 378 Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates from patients. Forty-one percent of M. tuberculosis isolates harbored a single copy of IS6110. Of 378 patients, 236 had distinct strains; 142 (38%) shared a strain with other patients, indicating recent infection. Older patients, those detected by a house-to-house community survey, and those hospitalized in a sanatorium were more likely to have had a recent infection. These findings suggest that the majority of the tuberculosis cases in south India were due to reactivation; therefore, efforts to control tuberculosis should be sustained.

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