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Mycobacterium tuberculosis identified as high-frequency strain
Ferro BE. Emerg Infect Dis. 2011;17:1259-1262.
The Beijing genotype of Mycobacterium tuberculosis was identified as a high-frequency strain among multidrug-resistant tuberculosis isolates, according to a study.
From a sample of 324 M. tuberculosis isolates retrieved from the Centro Internacional de Entrenamiento e Investigaciones Médicas in Cali, Colombia, 160 were thawed and cultured on Lowenstein-Jensen agar slants.
Of these, a Beijing family strain (SIT 190) caused the largest cluster among MDR isolates (n=24) and was found in two of four extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR TB) isolates. The two isolates were found in female patients aged 16 and 24 years, and the Beijing genotype was found to have a strong correlation with female patients, as well as patients living in Buenaventura.
“In Buenaventura, where a high rate of primary drug resistance has been observed, the Beijing genotype is associated with MDR TB and thus transmission,” the researchers wrote. “Moreover, given the limited number of MDR isolates tested, the emergence of Beijing strains in Colombia may already be much larger than what we observed.”
The high frequency of the Beijing strain may be caused by bacteriologic factors, host factors, or both, and has become a public health problem in Buenaventura, Colombia, they said.
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