FOLLOW-UP OF MYCOBACTERIUM-TUBERCULOSIS TRANSMISSION IN THE FRENCH-WEST-INDIES BY IS6110-DNA FINGERPRINTING AND DR-BASED SPOLIGOTYPING

A total of 115 Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates from 80 patients we re typed using IS6110-DNA fingerprinting and DR-based spoligotyping to describe the active transmission of tuberculosis in a Caribbean setti ng over a 2-year period. A total of 61 different pattern types were ob served by IS6110-RFLP and 10 clusters containing between two and 15 pa tients could be defined. By spoligotyping, 45 different pattern types were observed with 12 clusters containing two to 11 patients. Thirty-t wo patients could be included in eight spoligotype-defined clusters an d in nine RFLP-defined clusters when strictly concordant matching resu lts were put together. In conclusion, about 40% of the patient isolate s were clustered by DNA fingerprinting suggesting recent transmission of tuberculosis in our region. This study confirmed the increased accu racy and discriminatory power of the association of IS6110-RFLP and sp oligotyping for studies on the molecular epidemiology of M. tuberculos is, and suggests that despite good implementation of tuberculosis cont rol programs in Guadeloupe, active transmission of tuberculosis may be far more important than suspected. (C) 1998 Published by Elsevier Sci ence B.V. All rights reserved.