Clustering of Tuberculosis Cases Based on Variable-Number Tandem-Repeat Typing in Relation to the Population Structure of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in the Netherlands

Abstract

The population structure of 3,776 Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates was determined using variable-number tandem-repeat (VNTR) typing. The degree of clonality was so high that a more relaxed definition of clustering cannot be applied. Among recent immigrants with non-Euro-American isolates, transmission is overestimated if based on identical VNTR patterns.