Occurrence and Nature of Double Alleles in Variable-Number Tandem-Repeat Patterns of More than 8,000 Mycobacterium tuberculosis Complex Isolates in The Netherlands.

ABSTRACT: Since 2004, variable-number tandem-repeat (VNTR) typing of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex isolates has been applied on a structural basis in The Netherlands to study the epidemiology of tuberculosis (TB). Although this technique is faster and technically less demanding than the previously used restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) typing, reproducibility remains a concern. In the period from 2004 to 2015, 8,532 isolates were subjected to VNTR typing in The Netherlands, with 186 (2.2%) of these exhibiting double alleles at one locus. Double alleles were most common in loci 4052 and 2163b. The variables significantly associated with double alleles were urban living (odds ratio [OR], 1.503; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.084 to 2.084; P = 0.014) and pulmonary TB (

SUBMITTER: Jajou R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5786718 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature