02480nas a2200373   4500000000100000008004100001260001300042653001200055653001800067653001900085653001300104653001200117653001100129653001200140653000900152653001500161653002500176653001700201653003000218653002600248653003900274100001500313700001200328700001500340700001200355700001200367245012500379856006900504300001000573490000700583050001800590520148400608022001402092       2004                            d  c2004 Feb10aAnimals10aBase Sequence10aDNA, Bacterial10agenotype10aHousing10aHumans10aleprosy10aMice10aMice, Nude10aMycobacterium leprae10aNasal Mucosa10apolymerase chain reaction10aPolymorphism, Genetic10aRepetitive Sequences, Nucleic Acid1 aMatsuoka M1 aZhang L1 aBudiawan T1 aSaeki K1 aIzumi S00aGenotyping of Mycobacterium leprae on the basis of the polymorphism of TTC repeats for analysis of leprosy transmission.  uhttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC344471/pdf/1119.pdf  a741-50 v42  aMATSUOKA 20043 a<p>The polymorphism of TTC repeats in Mycobacterium leprae was examined using the bacilli obtained from residents in villages at North Maluku where M. leprae infections are highly endemic (as well as from patients at North Sulawesi of Indonesia) to elucidate the possible mode of leprosy transmission. TTC genotypes are stable for several generations of passages in nude mice footpads and, hence, are feasible for the genotyping of isolates and epidemiological analysis of leprosy transmission. It was found that bacilli with different TTC genotypes were distributed among residents at the same dwelling in villages in which leprosy is endemic and that some household contacts harbored bacilli with a different genotype from that harbored by the patient. Investigations of a father-and-son pair of patients indicated that infections of bacilli with 10 and 18 copies, respectively, had occurred. Genotypes of TTC repeats were found to differ between a son under treatment and two brothers. These results reveal the possibility that in addition to exposure via the presence of a leprosy patient with a multibacillary infection who was living with family members, there might have been some infectious sources to which the residents had been commonly exposed outside the dwellings. A limited discriminative capacity of the TTC polymorphism in the epidemiological analysis implies the need of searching other useful polymorphic loci for detailed subdivision of clinical isolates.</p>  a0095-1137