Rapid whole-genome sequencing for investigation of a suspected tuberculosis outbreak

J Clin Microbiol. 2013 Feb;51(2):611-4. doi: 10.1128/JCM.02279-12. Epub 2012 Nov 21.

Abstract

Two Southeast Asian students attending the same school in the United Kingdom presented with pulmonary tuberculosis. An epidemiological investigation failed to link the two cases, and drug resistance profiles of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates were discrepant. Whole-genome sequencing of the isolates found them to be genetically identical, suggesting a missed transmission event.

Publication types

  • Case Reports
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Disease Outbreaks*
  • Genome, Bacterial*
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Mycobacterium tuberculosis / classification
  • Mycobacterium tuberculosis / genetics*
  • Phylogeny
  • Sequence Analysis, DNA
  • Tuberculosis / diagnosis*
  • Tuberculosis / epidemiology*
  • Tuberculosis / transmission
  • United Kingdom / epidemiology
  • Young Adult