Mycobacterium tuberculosis Beijing Genotype

• Main Authors: Troels Lillebaek, Åse B. Andersen, Asger Dirksen, Judith R. Glynn, Kristin Kremer
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2003-12-01
• Series: Emerging Infectious Diseases
• Subjects: Mycobacterium tuberculosis; molecular epidemiology; genotype; Beijing family; W-strain; IS6110 RFLP
• Online Access: https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/9/12/03-0276_article

Molecular epidemiologic studies of strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis are currently conducted worldwide. The genetically distinct Beijing family of strains has been associated with large outbreaks of tuberculosis, increased virulence, and multidrug resistance. However, in this first population-based search for Beijing strains in the Danish DNA fingerprint database, analysis of 97% of all culture-positive tuberculosis patients in 1992 to 2001, showed that 2.5% of 3,844 patients, 1.0% of Danish-born patients and 3.6% of immigrants (from 85 countries) had Beijing strains. No Beijing strains were found among 201 strains from Danish-born patients sampled in the 1960s, and no evidence of an increase in Beijing strains was found over time. The true prevalence of Beijing strains worldwide is unknown because only a fraction of global strains have been analyzed.