Testing for the presence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis Beijing genotype strains in Syrian samples

Abstract

The Beijing family of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) has been reported to have an exceptional capacity to spread tuberculosis (TB) and induce multi-drug resistance. A method has been developed to distinguish this family from the rest of the MTB families through real-time DNA amplification and subsequent analysis of the melting point of an amplicon. Two pools of multi-drug resistant (MDR) MTB samples collected at two different time periods from various regions in Syria have been selected. This preliminary screening indicated a complete absence of the Beijing family in all samples. This research presents an effective differentiation of bacterial Beijing strains, with minimal effort and cost through analysis of differential amplicon melting points.

Beijing strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in smear-positive tuberculosis patients in North-West and West of Iran

“…The prevalence of the Beijing strains in these patients was 9.4%. Its prevalence in some Western and Central Asian locales was 0% in Syria and Lebanon,[8] Turkey 0.5%[9] Palestine 0.64%,[10] Azerbaijani prisons 70.8%,[4] Armenia 46%,[11] Kazakhstan 70.4%,[12] and Saudi Arabia with a rate of 5.8%. [13] The prevalence of the Beijing strains in different parts of Iran is estimated at 10% in Shiraz,[5] 5.5% in Markazi Province,[14] and 7.1% in Khorasan.…”