Prevalence of Haarlem I and Beijing types of Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains in Iranian and Afghan MDR-TB patients

Objectives: This survey identified the spoligopatterns of Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains with an international designation responsible for transmission and prevalence of Multi-Drug Resistance Tuberculosis (MDR-TB) among native and immigrant population of Tehran (2000-2005). Methods: The spacer oligonucleotides typing was performed on 263 M. tuberculosis strains isolated from verified cases of MDR-TB. Clinical and demographical data of patients were collected using traditional methods. Results: Classical epidemiological investigation revealed that out of 263 MDR-TB cases, 175, 66.5% were isolated from Afghan immigrants. In both communities, majority of MDR-TB cases had either previous history of TB (107, 40.6%) or had a close contact (84, 31.9%). By spoligotyping, 27 distinct patterns were observed, 253 clinical isolates were grouped in 17 clusters (62.9%) and 10 isolates displayed an orphan pattern (37%). Based on an international spoligotype database, Haarlem 1 (85, 33.5%), Beijing (52, 20.5%), Central Asia (32, 12.1%), and EAI (21, 8.3%) were the major identified super families. Although, 76.9% of the Beijing genotypes and 100% of ST253 strains (that was prevalent through former Soviet Union) were isolated from Afghan patients only. The linkage patterns between 30 Iranian and Afghan patients were observed. Conclusion: The study highlighted the epidemic potential of Haarlem I and Beijing genotypes among MDR-TB cases in Tehran territory. (C) 2005 The British Infection Society. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.