A study of Mycobacterium tuberculosis genotypic diversity & drug resistance mutations in Varanasi, north India.

Abstract

This study gives an insight into the M. tuberculosis genetic biodiversity in Varanasi, north India, the predominant spoligotypes and their impact on disease transmission. In this region of north India, TB is caused by a wide diversity of spoligotypes with predominance of four genotype lineages: Beijing, CAS, EAI and T. The Beijing genotype was the most frequent single spoligotype and strongly associated with multi drug resistant (MDR)-TB isolates. These findings may have important implications for control and prevention of TB in north India.