Transmission of Mycobacterium tuberculosis Beijing Strains, Alberta, Canada, 1991-2007.

ABSTRACT: Beijing strains are speculated to have a selective advantage over other Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains because of increased transmissibility and virulence. In Alberta, a province of Canada that receives a large number of immigrants, we conducted a population-based study to determine whether Beijing strains were associated with increased transmission leading to disease compared with non-Beijing strains. Beijing strains accounted for 258 (19%) of 1,379 pulmonary tuberculosis cases in 1991-2007; overall, 21% of Beijing cases and 37% of non-Beijing cases were associated with transmission clusters. Beijing index cases had significantly fewer secondary cases within 2 years than did non-Beijing cases, but this difference disappeared after adjustment for demographic characteristics, infectious

SUBMITTER: Langlois-Klassen D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3649004 | biostudies-literature | 2013 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature