PubMed · 2010 · 14 citations · 0 references
Public HealthInfectious DiseasesMicrobiologyMedical MicrobiologyMicrobial GeneticsMolecular EpidemiologyPulmonary TuberculosisTuberculosis CareTuberculosis DiagnosisTuberculosis Diagnostic TestingTuberculosis EpidemiologyTuberculosis SurveillanceMolecular Drug ResistanceMolecular Genetic EpidemiologyMultidrug-resistant OrganismsMultidrug-resistant PathogensMycobacterium Tuberculosis InfectionTuberculosis DiagnosticsTuberculosis Molecular TestingVariable Number Tandem Repeats
Taiwan initiated a multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) programme in May 2007. Seventy-seven MDR-TB patients were enrolled from May 2007 to February 2009 in Eastern Taiwan. Isolates of 73 (94%) patients were available for genotyping using spoligotyping and MIRU-VNTR (mycobacterial interspersed repetitive unit-variable number of tandem repeats). Spoligotyping results indicated the Beijing strain as the predominant genotype (n = 48, 66%). Of the 73 isolates, 28 (38.4%) had a unique pattern and 45 (61.6%) were clustered pattern strains. Epidemiological links could be established in 21 (46.7%) of the 45 patients with a clustered pattern strain. The proportion of MDR-TB patients with a clustered pattern strain in Eastern Taiwan was high.