BackgroundKnowledge of drug-sensitivity patterns of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC) strains isolated from patients is an important aspect of TB control strategy. This study was conducted to evaluate the drug sensitivity of MTBC isolates in South Omo, southern Ethiopia.Materials and methodsA total of 161 MTBC isolates (153 from new cases and eight re-treatment TB cases) were isolated using Lowenstein Jensen medium of which 126 isolates were able to be tested for drug sensitivity by BACTEC™MGIT™ 960 system, while all the 161 isolates were tested by GenoType® MTBDRplus VER 2.0. Descriptive statistics and logistic regression were used to express and present results.ResultsOn the basis of MGIT 960 system, the prevalence of mono-resistance was 9.2% (11/119) in the new cases, although neither poly-resistance nor multidrug resistance (MDR) was recorded in these cases. On the basis of GenoType MTBDRplus assay, two of the 153 isolates (1.3%) of the new cases were mono-resistant for rifampicin (RIF) and one of these isolates had known rpoB gene mutation (H526D). One of the eight (12.5%) isolates obtained from the re-treatment cases was MDR with rpoB gene mutation (D516V) and katG gene mutation (S315T2). Taking MGIT 960 system as a gold standard, the sensitivities of the MTBDRplus assay were 33.3%, 100% and 100% for detection of resistance to isoniazid, RIF and MDR, respectively. On the other hand, its specificities were 99.2%, 100% and 100% for detection of resistance to RIF, isoniazid and MDR, respectively.ConclusionThe magnitude of drug resistance was relatively low in the new TB cases of South Omo as compared to the reports from the other regions of the country. This is encouraging and hence the TB Control Program in the Zone should strengthen its program so that the emergence of drug resistance is inhibited.

ObjectiveInformation on tuberculosis (TB) treatment outcomes would be useful for the improvement of the TB control program. The aim of the present study was to evaluate treatment outcomes of TB and identify associated factors in TB patients at the Jinka General Hospital (JGH), remote Zone of Ethiopia.ResultThe result showed that 13.1% (154/1172) of the cases were cured, 60.9% treatment completed, 10.2% died and 9.1% were lost to follow-up. Thus, the overall treatment success rate was 74%. Male patients [AOR = 0.70 (0.52–0.93)] and HIV co-infected patients [AOR = 0.67 (0.45–0.98)] were associated with unsuccessful treatment outcomes.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s13104-017-3020-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Background Tuberculosis (TB) is caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC). Mapping the genetic diversity of MTBC in high TB burden country like Ethiopia is important to understand principles of the disease transmission and to strengthen the regional TB control program. The aim of this study was to investigate the genetic diversity of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC) isolates circulating in the South Omo, southern Ethiopia. Methods MTBC isolates (N = 156) were genetically analyzed using spacer oligotyping (spoligotyping) and mycobacterial interspersed repetitive unit-variable number of tandem repeat (MIRU-VNTR) typing. Major lineages and lineages were identified using MTBC databases. Logistic regression was used to correlate patient characteristics with strain clustering. Results The study identified Euro-American (EA), East-African-Indian (EAI), Indo-Oceanic (IO), Lineage_7/Aethiops vertus, Mycobacterium bovis and Mycobacterium africanum major lineages in proportions of 67.3% (105/156), 22.4% (35/156), 6.4% (10/156), 1.9% (3/156), 1.3% (2/156) and 0.6% (1/156), respectively. Lineages identified were Delhi/CAS 23.9% (37/155), Ethiopia_2 20.6% (32/155), Haarlem 14.2% (22/155), URAL 14.2%(22/155), Ethiopia_3 8.4% (13/155), TUR 6.5% (10/155), Lineage_7/Aethiops vertus 1.9% (3/155), Bovis 1.3% (2/155), LAM 1.3% (2/155), EAI 0.6% (1/155), X 0.6% (1/155) and Ethiopia H37Rv-like strain 0.6% (1/155). Of the genotyped isolates 5.8% (9/155) remained unassigned. The recent transmission index (RTI) was 3.9%. Orphan strains compared to shared types (AOR: 0.09, 95% CI: 0.04–0.25) were associated with reduced odds of clustering. The dominant TB lineage in pastoral areas was EAI and in non-pastoral areas was EA. Conclusion The epidemiological data, highly diverse MTBC strains and a low RTI in South Omo, provide information contributing to the TB Control Program of the country.

BackgroundResearch pertaining to the community-based prevalence of latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) is important to understand the magnitude of this infection. This study was conducted to estimate LTBI prevalence and to identify associated risk factors in the Omo Zone of Southern Ethiopia.MethodsA community-based cross-sectional study was conducted in six South Omo districts from May 2015 to February 2016. The sample size was allocated to the study districts proportional to their population sizes. Participants were selected using a multi-stage sampling approach. A total of 497 adult pastoralists were recruited. Blood samples were collected from the study participants and screened for LTBI using a U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved interferon-gamma release assay (IGRA). Logistic regression was used to model the likelihood of LTBI occurrence and to identify risk factors associated with LTBI.ResultsThe prevalence of LTBI was 50.5% (95% CI: 46%, 55%) with no significant gender difference (49.8% among males versus 51.2% among females; Chi-square (χ2) = 0.10; P = 0.41) and marginally non-significant increasing trends with age (44.6% among those below 24 years and 59.7% in the age range of 45-64 years; χ2 = 6.91; P = 0.075). Being residence of the Dasanech District (adjusted odds ratio, AOR = 2.62, 95% CI: 1.30, 5.28; P = 0.007) and having a habit of eating raw meat (AOR = 2.89, 95% CI: 1.09, 7.66; P = 0.033) were significantly associated with an increased odds of being positive for LTBI. A large family size (size of 5 to 10) has significant protective effect against associated a reduced odds of being positive for LTBI compared to a family size of below 5 (AOR = 0.65, 95% CI: 0.42, 0.99; P = 0.045).ConclusionsA high prevalence of LTBI in the South Omo Zone raises the concern that elimination of TB in the pastoral communities of the region might be difficult. Screening for and testing individuals infected with TB, independent of symptoms, may be an effective way to minimize the risk of disease spread.