OBJECTIVE: Assessing VNTR (variable-number tandem repeat) variability of Mycobacterium leprae from Colombian patients with and without prior treatment to identify potential sources of infection and to understand the patterns of disease transmission.
METHODOLOGY: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study where a convenience sample of biopsies was taken from 161 multibacillary leprosy patients; diagnosis and monitoring of the disease had been requested for these patients. DNA was extracted from M. leprae and standardised using the PCR technique for M. leprae VNTR, ge-notypes were established and different clusters grouped by unweighted pair group method with arithmetic mean (UPGMA).
RESULTS: 22 different VNTR genotypes were found from 161 samples, of which 100 samples (62.1%) had a single u-VNTR genotype and the remaining genotypes were VNTR 17 (5.6%), VNTR 20 (4.3%), VNTR 18 (4.3%), VNTR 14 (4.3%) and VNTR 13 (3.7%), namely those forming groups or clusters.
CONCLUSION: This study showed that clones can be detected with varying degrees of virulence / aggressiveness by cluster analysis, implying the need for more monitoring programme activities which will result in a real decline in microorganism transmission.
BT - Revista de salud publica (Bogota, Colombia) C1 - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19721975?dopt=Abstract DA - 2009 Jan-Feb IS - 1 J2 - Rev Salud Publica (Bogota) LA - spa N2 -OBJECTIVE: Assessing VNTR (variable-number tandem repeat) variability of Mycobacterium leprae from Colombian patients with and without prior treatment to identify potential sources of infection and to understand the patterns of disease transmission.
METHODOLOGY: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study where a convenience sample of biopsies was taken from 161 multibacillary leprosy patients; diagnosis and monitoring of the disease had been requested for these patients. DNA was extracted from M. leprae and standardised using the PCR technique for M. leprae VNTR, ge-notypes were established and different clusters grouped by unweighted pair group method with arithmetic mean (UPGMA).
RESULTS: 22 different VNTR genotypes were found from 161 samples, of which 100 samples (62.1%) had a single u-VNTR genotype and the remaining genotypes were VNTR 17 (5.6%), VNTR 20 (4.3%), VNTR 18 (4.3%), VNTR 14 (4.3%) and VNTR 13 (3.7%), namely those forming groups or clusters.
CONCLUSION: This study showed that clones can be detected with varying degrees of virulence / aggressiveness by cluster analysis, implying the need for more monitoring programme activities which will result in a real decline in microorganism transmission.
PY - 2009 SP - 3 EP - 13 T2 - Revista de salud publica (Bogota, Colombia) TI - [Genotyping Colombian Mycobacterium leprae for determining disease transmission patterns]. VL - 11 SN - 0124-0064 ER -