Mycobacterium africanum is not a major cause of human tuberculosis in Cape Town, South Africa

Anne-Marie Demers; Serge Mostowy; David Coetzee; Robin Warren; Paul van Helden; Marcel A Behr

doi:10.1016/j.tube.2010.02.004

Mycobacterium africanum is not a major cause of human tuberculosis in Cape Town, South Africa

Tuberculosis (Edinb). 2010 Mar;90(2):143-4. doi: 10.1016/j.tube.2010.02.004. Epub 2010 Mar 30.

Authors

Anne-Marie Demers¹, Serge Mostowy, David Coetzee, Robin Warren, Paul van Helden, Marcel A Behr

Affiliation

¹ Département de Microbiologie et Immunologie, CHU Sainte-Justine, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada. anne-marie.demers@umontreal.ca <anne-marie.demers@umontreal.ca>

PMID: 20356795
DOI: 10.1016/j.tube.2010.02.004

Abstract

While Mycobacterium africanum is an important cause of TB in several sites in West Africa, its distribution in other African countries is not well documented. In this study, conducted in Cape Town, 1175 isolates yielded 110 unique RFLP patterns; one of each of these 110 strains was tested for genomic deletions characteristic of M. africanum and other atypical members of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex. As none of these strains was marked by the deletion of RD9, we conclude that M. africanum and other atypical members of the M. tuberculosis complex are decidedly uncommon in this part of Africa.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Bacterial Typing Techniques
Humans
Molecular Epidemiology*
Mycobacterium Infections, Nontuberculous / epidemiology*
Mycobacterium Infections, Nontuberculous / microbiology
Nontuberculous Mycobacteria* / isolation & purification
South Africa / epidemiology