Spoligotyping and drug-resistance of Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains from Shanxi province, China

To understand the genotyping characteristics and drug resistant status of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tuberculosis) circulating in Shanxi province, China. Clinical M. tuberculosis isolates were collected from Jan., 2012 to Dec., 2015. The spacer-oligonucleotide typing (Spoligotyping) was performed for the genotyping of the isolates. Drug susceptibility test (DST) was utilized by the proportion method on the Lowenstein-Jensen (L-J) medium using isoniazid, rifampicin, ethambutol, streptomycin, kanamycin, protionamide, p-aminosalicylic acid and Levofloxacin. By means of Spoligotyping, a total of 293 clinical M. tuberculosis isolates were differentiated into 10 clusters, in which Beijing family was the most prevalent genotype (82.59%). The DST results showed that 48 (16.38%) strains were MDR strains. There was a difference in the kanamycin resistance between Beijing genotype and non-Beijing genotype strains. We concluded that spoligotyping as the genotyping in our study was applicable for this region and the drug resistant isolates were identified, and Beijing family is the most prevalent genotype in the cities of Shanxi. Meanwhile, Beijing genotyping isolates were more resistant than others. These results prompt for the need to strengthen the current tuberculosis control strategies and surveillance programs.