Mycobacterium tuberculosis strain lineage in mixed tribal population across India and Andaman Nicobar Island

• Published in: World journal of microbiology & biotechnology Vol. 37; no. 11; p. 192
• Main Authors: Dusthackeer, Azger, Kumar, Ashok, Mohanvel, Sucharitha Kannappan, Mahizhaveni, B., Shivakumar, S., Raghavi, S., Azhagendran, S., Vetrivel, S., Rao, Vikas Gangadhar, Yadav, Rajiv, Paluru, Vijayachari, Purthy, Anil Jacob, Hussain, Tahziba, Kashyap, Vivek, Devi, K. Rekha, Krishnan, Anil Kumar Indira, Anand, Praveen, Das, Pradeep, Bansal, Avi Kumar, Das, Madhuchhanda, Kaur, Harpreet, Raghunath, D., Mondal, Rajesh, Thomas, Beena E.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01-11-2021; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Antitubercular Agents - pharmacology; Applied Microbiology; Bacterial Proteins - genetics; Bacterial Typing Techniques; Biochemistry; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biotechnology; Clinical isolates; Disease transmission; DNA-Directed RNA Polymerases - genetics; Drug Resistance, Bacterial; Drug Resistance, Multiple, Bacterial; Environmental Engineering/Biotechnology; Ethnicity; Female; Genes, Bacterial; Humans; India - epidemiology; Islands; Isoniazid; Life Sciences; Male; Microbiology; Multidrug resistance; Mycobacterium tuberculosis; Mycobacterium tuberculosis - classification; Mycobacterium tuberculosis - drug effects; Mycobacterium tuberculosis - genetics; Mycobacterium tuberculosis - isolation & purification; Original Paper; Phylogeny; Population; Population studies; Populations; Prevalence; Public health; Rifampin; Spoligotyping; Tuberculosis; Tuberculosis, Multidrug-Resistant - epidemiology; Tuberculosis, Multidrug-Resistant - microbiology; Tuberculosis, Pulmonary - epidemiology; Tuberculosis, Pulmonary - microbiology; Villages; India; Beijing China; China; Clusters; Lineage; Spoligotyping; Prevalence; Tribe; M. tuberculosis
• ISSN: 0959-3993; 1573-0972
• DOI: 10.1007/s11274-021-03164-6

In India, the tribal population constitutes almost 8.6% of the nation’s total population. Despite their large presence, there are only a few reports available on
Mycobacterium tuberculosis
(
M. tb
) strain prevalence in Indian tribal communities considering the mobile nature of this population and also the influence of the mainstream populations they coexist within many areas for their livelihood. This study attempts to provide critical information pertaining to the TB strain diversity, its public health implications, and distribution among the tribal population in eleven Indian states and Andaman & Nicobar (A&N) Island. The study employed a population-based molecular approach. Clinical isolates were received from 66 villages (10 states and Island) and these villages were selected by implying situation analysis. A total of 78
M. tb
clinical isolates were received from 10 different states and A&N Island. Among these, 16 different strains were observed by spoligotyping technique. The major
M. tb
strains spoligotype belong to the Beijing, CAS1_DELHI, and EAI5 family of
M. tb
strains followed by EAI1_SOM, EAI6_BGD1, LAM3, LAM6, LAM9, T1, T2, U strains. Drug-susceptibility testing (DST) results showed almost 15.4% of clinical isolates found to be resistant to isoniazid (INH) or rifampicin (RMP) + INH. Predominant multidrug-resistant (MDR-TB) isolates seem to be Beijing strain. Beijing, CAS1_DELHI, EAI3_IND, and EAI5 were the principal strains infecting mixed tribal populations across India. Despite the small sample size, this study has demonstrated higher diversity among the TB strains with significant MDR-TB findings. Prevalence of Beijing MDR-TB strains in Central, Southern, Eastern India and A&N Island indicates the transmission of the TB strains.