Diagnosis of Mycobacterium microti infections among humans by using novel genetic markers

• Published in: Journal of clinical microbiology Vol. 36; no. 7; pp. 1840 - 1845
• Main Authors: VAN SOOLINGEN, D, VAN DER ZANDEN, A. G. M, DE BAAS, P. E. W, NOORDHOEK, G. T, KIERS, A, FOUDRAINE, N. A, PORTAELS, F, KOLK, A. H. J, KREMER, K, VAN EMBDEN, J. D. A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Society for Microbiology 01-07-1998
• Subjects: Adult; Animals; Bacterial diseases; Bacterial Typing Techniques; Bacteriology; Biological and medical sciences; Child; DNA Fingerprinting; DNA, Bacterial - analysis; Epidemiology; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Genetic Markers; Human bacterial diseases; Humans; Immunocompromised Host; Infectious diseases; Male; Medical sciences; Mice; Microbiology; Mycobacteriology and Aerobic Actinomycetes; Mycobacterium - classification; Mycobacterium - genetics; Mycobacterium - isolation & purification; Netherlands; Polymerase Chain Reaction - methods; Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length; Tuberculosis - diagnosis; Tuberculosis - microbiology; Tuberculosis and atypical mycobacterial infections; United Kingdom; Netherlands; Europe; Human; Typing; Repeated sequence; Mycobacterial infection; Infection; Case study; Restriction fragment length polymorphism; Mycobacteriales; DNA; Bacteriosis; Mycobacteriaceae; Molecular epidemiology; Bacteria; Actinomycetes; Diagnosis; Mycobacterium microti
• ISSN: 0095-1137; 1098-660X
• DOI: 10.1128/JCM.36.7.1840-1845.1998

As a result of DNA typing of Mycobacterium microti isolates from animals in the United Kingdom and The Netherlands, we diagnosed four human M. microti infections. These are the first M. microti infections among humans to be reported. Three of the patients were immunocompromised and suffered from generalized forms of tuberculosis. The fourth patient was a 34-year-old immunocompetent male with a persistent cough and undefined X-ray abnormalities. Two of the M. microti infections were recognized by their IS6110 restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) patterns, which showed a high degree of similarity with those of M. microti strains isolated from a pig and a ferret in The Netherlands. The two other human M. microti infections were recognized by using the recently developed DNA fingerprinting method, "spoligotyping," directly on clinical material. All M. microti isolates from the United Kingdom and The Netherlands were found to contain an exceptionally short genomic direct repeat region, resulting in identical two-spacer sequence reactions in spoligotyping. In contrast, the highly similar IS6110 RFLP patterns of the vole strains from the United Kingdom differed considerably from the RFLPs of all M. microti strains isolated in The Netherlands, suggesting that geographic isolation led to divergent strains in the United Kingdom and on the continent.