Typing tuberculosis
12 Jan 2012
Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the world's major health problems. It is estimated that roughly one-third of the global population is infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the TB-causing pathogen. Especially for people with weakened immune systems (due to e.g. HIV infection, malnutrition or generally poor living conditions), TB is life-threatening.
The so-called Beijing strains of M. tuberculosis have the dubious honour of being the most successful genotype of the pathogen, responsible for approximately 50% of the TB cases in Asia. The Beijing strains are also associated with the current multi-drug resistance TB epidemic in Eastern Europe and South Africa. To gain a more detailed understanding of the various strains within the Beijing genotype, Anita Schürch (National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, NL/Centre for Molecular and Biomolecular Informatics, Nijmegen, NL) and colleagues developed a typing scheme that uses SNPs and regions of difference (RDs) derived from whole-genome sequencing data of eight Beijing strains. Their analysis reveals that the Beijing strains' global spread was initiated on multiple occasions.
Schürch AC, Kremer K, Hendriks ACA, Freyee B, McEvoy CRE, van Crevel R, Boeree MJ, van Helden P, Warren RM, Siezen RJ, van Soolingen D
SNP/RD typing of Mycobacterium tuberculosis Beijing strains reveals local and worldwide disseminated clonal complexes
PLoS one, 2011, Vol 6, Issue 12
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