Genotyping and drug susceptibility testing of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in Iran: a multi-centre study

Abstract

Tuberculosis (TB) is a deadly infection and caused 1.4 million deaths in 2018. Assessing the geographic distribution of major lineages of Mycobacterium tuberculosis can contribute greatly to TB control. Mycobacterial interspersed repetitive unit variable number tandem repeat (MIRU-VNTR) typing is commonly used to differentiate various lineages of M. tuberculosis . A total of 2747 clinical specimens were collected consecutively from October 2018 through June 2019. Clinical isolates were identified as M. tuberculosis using standard biochemical tests. The standard 15-locus MIRU-VNTR typing was used for the genotyping of clinical isolates. Drug susceptibility testing was performed using the conventional proportion method. From the collected specimens, 100 were culture positive for M. tuberculosis . Using MIRU-VNTR, 99 different patterns were detected among the 100 isolates. They were distributed in one cluster comprising two strains and 98 unique patterns. Most of our isolates were similar to New-1 and Delhi/CAS strains. Of the M. tuberculosis isolates, 83 (83.0%) were pan-susceptible and 17 (17.0%) were resistant to at least one drug. Our study showed that MIRU-VNTR is a useful method for studying the genetic diversity of M. tuberculosis isolates in different regional settings and will help the health authorities to construct a preventive programme for TB.

The evaluation of Human papilloma virus and human herpes viruses (EBV, CMV, VZV HSV‐1 and HSV‐2) in semen samples

“…The leading cause of infertility is not clear, but it is assumed due to different risk factors, including smoking, alcohol consumption, changes in sexual behaviour, and even infectious diseases, meaningful increase in the prevalence rate of infertility can be observed. Among different infectious risk factors, the role of various viruses has attracted much attention (Abedi et al., 2018; Arefzadeh et al., 2020; Boeri et al., 2019; Garolla et al., 2013; Ghasemnejad et al., 2018; Khajehzadeh et al., 2018; Mahmoudi et al., 2019; Mousavi et al., 2020; Nasiri et al., 2020; Pormohammad et al., 2019; Pourentezari et al., 2016; Schuppe et al., 2017).…”

Genetic diversity of drug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis clinical isolates from Khuzestan province, Iran

“…The NEW-1 sub-lineage was identified as the dominant (21.9%) circulating genotype in Iran by a systematic review of studies of the last decade (Hadifar et al 2021 ). In a multicenter study covering nine Iranian provinces, the NEW-1 sub-lineage made up the most (41.2%) resistant isolates (Mousavi et al 2020 ). Recently, a hypothesis has been put forward about the origin and dispersal of this sub-lineage: its ancestor originated in China centuries ago, entered Iran through the invasion of the Mongol Empire about 800 years ago, and gradually evolved into NEW-1.…”

“…Unexpectedly, 15-locus and even 12-locus analyzes were more discriminative than 24-locus analysis for our isolates (HGDI = 0.943 and 0.867 compared to 0.835, respectively). Numerous studies in Iran have reported the discriminatory power of 15-locus MIRU-VNTR analysis to be very high (HGDI ≥ 0.98) and desirable for the genotypic differentiation of MTB (Kochkaksaraei et al 2019 ; Azimi et al 2018 ; Mousavi et al 2020 ). Nevertheless, a study in China calculated the HGDI of 12-, 15-, and 24-locus analysis for 668 isolates at 0.925, 0.996, and 0.998, respectively (Shi et al 2018 ), which is inconsistent with the present study for the 24-locus analysis.…”

Detection of Enterovirus, Herpes Simplex, Varicella Zoster, Epstein‐Barr and Cytomegalovirus in cerebrospinal fluid in meningitis patients in Iran

“…At least five members of Herpesviridae , including CMV, EBV, HSV‐1, HSV‐2, and VZV, which spread around the world, can cause tumorigenic transformation, and gene overexpression 8 . The most common clinical symptoms of patients, suffering from these viral health problems, are blisters, fever, meningitis, changes in an individual's behavior, cognitive disability, aphasia, seizures, and neuropsychological deficits 9,10 . Immunocompromised people, such as AIDS patients and organ‐transplant recipients, usually have these symptoms as these viruses are opportunistic pathogens 11,12 Moreover, Enterovirus ( EV) is another virus that can be considered one of the leading causes of aseptic meningitis in children 13‐15 .…”

“… 8 The most common clinical symptoms of patients, suffering from these viral health problems, are blisters, fever, meningitis, changes in an individual's behavior, cognitive disability, aphasia, seizures, and neuropsychological deficits. 9 , 10 Immunocompromised people, such as AIDS patients and organ‐transplant recipients, usually have these symptoms as these viruses are opportunistic pathogens 11 , 12 Moreover, Enterovirus ( EV) is another virus that can be considered one of the leading causes of aseptic meningitis in children. 13 , 14 , 15 This virus, accounting for 60%–80% of all aseptic meningitis cases, belongs to Picornaviridae .…”