Use of GeneXpert Remnants for Drug Resistance Profiling and Molecular Epidemiology of Tuberculosis in Libreville, Gabon.

ABSTRACT: Multidrug-resistant (MDR) and extensively drug resistant (XDR) strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis pose major problems for global health. The GeneXpert MTB/RIF (Xpert) assay rapidly detects resistance to rifampin (RIF^r), but for detection of the additional resistance that defines MDR-TB (MDR tuberculosis) and XDR-TB, and for molecular epidemiology, specimen cultures and a biosafe infrastructure are generally required. We sought to determine whether the remnants of sputa prepared for the Xpert assay could be used directly to find mutations associated with drug resistance and to study molecular epidemiology, thus providing precise characterization of MDR-TB cases in countries lacking biosafety level 3 (BSL3) facilities for M. tuberculosis cultures. After sputa were

SUBMITTER: Alame-Emane AK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5483912 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature