Abstract
BackgroundTuberculosis (TB) is a serious health problem in Tibet where Tibetans are the major ethnic group. Although genotyping of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tuberculosis) isolates is a valuable tool for TB control, our knowledge of population structure of M. tuberculosis circulating in Tibet is limited.Methodology/Principal FindingsIn our study, a total of 576 M. tuberculosis isolates from Tibetans in Tibet, China, were analyzed via spoligotyping and 24-locus MIRU-VNTR. The Beijing genotype was the most prevalent family (90.63%, n = 522). Shared-type (ST) 1 was the most dominant genotype (88.89%, n = 512). We found that there was no association between the Beijing genotype and sex, age and treatment status. In this sample collection, 7 of the 24 MIRU-VNTR loci were highly or moderately discriminative according to their Hunter-Gaston discriminatory index. An informative set of 12 loci had similar discriminatory power with 24 loci set.Conclusions/SignificanceThe population structure of M. tuberculosis isolates in Tibetans is homogeneous and dominated by Beijing genotype. The analysis of 24-locus MIRU-VNTR data might be useful to select appropriate VNTR loci for the genotyping of M. tuberculosis.
Highlights
Tuberculosis (TB) remains a major health problem in China
Our results demonstrated that the population structure of M. tuberculosis isolates in Tibet Autonomous Region (Tibet) appears to be very homogeneous, as only 3 spoligotype lineages were obtained for the 576 isolates, with 90.63% of the isolates belonging to the Beijing genotype
Our results showed that there was no association between the prevalence of Beijing genotype and sex, age, and treatment status
Summary
Tuberculosis (TB) remains a major health problem in China. A 2000 national TB epidemiology survey conducted in China reported the average prevalence of TB amounts to 367 per 100,000 (0.0036%), with an estimated 4.5 million active pulmonary TB patients and 1.5 million new infections a year [1]. The prevalence rate of TB in western China was higher than central and eastern regions of the country. Tibet Autonomous Region (Tibet) is located in the QinghaiTibet Plateau of western China and Tibetans account for more than 90% of this population. Based on the 1990 national TB epidemiology survey in China, the prevalence rate of TB in Tibet (1203.06/100,000) was higher than anywhere else in China. Tuberculosis (TB) is a serious health problem in Tibet where Tibetans are the major ethnic group. Genotyping of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tuberculosis) isolates is a valuable tool for TB control, our knowledge of population structure of M. tuberculosis circulating in Tibet is limited
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