TY - JOUR
T1 - Reduced transmission of Mycobacterium africanum compared to Mycobacterium tuberculosis in urban West Africa
AU - Asare, Prince
AU - Asante-Poku, Adwoa
AU - Prah, Diana Ahu
AU - Borrell, Sonia
AU - Osei-Wusu, Stephen
AU - Otchere, Isaac Darko
AU - Forson, Audrey
AU - Adjapong, Gloria
AU - Koram, Kwadwo Ansah
AU - Gagneux, Sebastien
AU - Yeboah-Manu, Dorothy
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 The Author(s)
PY - 2018/8
Y1 - 2018/8
N2 - Objective: Understanding transmission dynamics is useful for tuberculosis (TB) control. A population-based molecular epidemiological study was conducted to determine TB transmission in Ghana. Methods: Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC) isolates obtained from prospectively sampled pulmonary TB patients between July 2012 and December 2015 were characterized using spoligotyping and standard 15-locus mycobacterial interspersed repetitive unit variable number tandem repeat (MIRU-VNTR) typing for transmission studies. Results: Out of 2309 MTBC isolates, 1082 (46.9%) unique cases were identified, with 1227 (53.1%) isolates belonging to one of 276 clusters. The recent TB transmission rate was estimated to be 41.2%. Whereas TB strains of lineage 4 belonging to M. tuberculosis showed a high recent transmission rate (44.9%), reduced recent transmission rates were found for lineages of Mycobacterium africanum (lineage 5, 31.8%; lineage 6, 24.7%). Conclusions: The study findings indicate high recent TB transmission, suggesting the occurrence of unsuspected outbreaks in Ghana. The observed reduced transmission rate of M. africanum suggests other factor(s) (host/environmental) may be responsible for its continuous presence in West Africa.
AB - Objective: Understanding transmission dynamics is useful for tuberculosis (TB) control. A population-based molecular epidemiological study was conducted to determine TB transmission in Ghana. Methods: Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC) isolates obtained from prospectively sampled pulmonary TB patients between July 2012 and December 2015 were characterized using spoligotyping and standard 15-locus mycobacterial interspersed repetitive unit variable number tandem repeat (MIRU-VNTR) typing for transmission studies. Results: Out of 2309 MTBC isolates, 1082 (46.9%) unique cases were identified, with 1227 (53.1%) isolates belonging to one of 276 clusters. The recent TB transmission rate was estimated to be 41.2%. Whereas TB strains of lineage 4 belonging to M. tuberculosis showed a high recent transmission rate (44.9%), reduced recent transmission rates were found for lineages of Mycobacterium africanum (lineage 5, 31.8%; lineage 6, 24.7%). Conclusions: The study findings indicate high recent TB transmission, suggesting the occurrence of unsuspected outbreaks in Ghana. The observed reduced transmission rate of M. africanum suggests other factor(s) (host/environmental) may be responsible for its continuous presence in West Africa.
KW - MIRU-VNTR
KW - Molecular epidemiology
KW - Mycobacterium africanum
KW - Mycobacterium tuberculosis
KW - Spoligotyping
KW - Transmission
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85049038558&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.ijid.2018.05.014
DO - 10.1016/j.ijid.2018.05.014
M3 - Article
C2 - 29879521
AN - SCOPUS:85049038558
SN - 1201-9712
VL - 73
SP - 30
EP - 42
JO - International Journal of Infectious Diseases
JF - International Journal of Infectious Diseases
ER -
