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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Public Health
Sec. Infectious Diseases: Epidemiology and Prevention
Volume 12 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1420685

Genotypes and Drug Resistance Pattern of Mycobacterium tuberculosis Complex among Clinically Diagnosed Pulmonary Tuberculosis Patients

Provisionally accepted
Alem Alemayehu Alem Alemayehu 1,2,3*Liya Wassie Liya Wassie 2Sebsib Neway Sebsib Neway 2Sosina Ayalew Tafese Sosina Ayalew Tafese 2Elena Hailu Elena Hailu 2Samuel Ayele Samuel Ayele 2Kidist Bobosha Kidist Bobosha 2Berhanu Seyoum Berhanu Seyoum 2Abraham Aseffa Abraham Aseffa 2Beyene Petros Beyene Petros 1Rawleigh Howe Rawleigh Howe 2
  • 1 Department of Microbial Cellular and Molecular Biology, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
  • 2 Armauer Hansen Research Institute (AHRI), Addis Ababa, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
  • 3 College of Health and Medical Sciences, Haramaya University, Dire Dawa, Dire Dawa, Ethiopia

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Background: Clinically diagnosed pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) (CDPTB) patients account for a huge proportion of TB. However, little is known about the genetic diversity and drug resistance profile of Mycobacterium tuberculosis Complex (MTBC) strains in this group of patients.Unmatched case-control study was conducted among 313 PTB patients to compare the genetic diversity of MTBC and their drug resistance profiles among CDPTB (n=173) and bacteriologically confirmed pulmonary TB (BCPTB) (n=140) patients. Lowenstein-Jensen (LJ) culture, geneXpert and acid fast staining were performed on sputum specimen collected from both CDPTB and BCPTB patients. Spoligotyping, whole genome sequencing (WGS) and phenotypic drug resistance testing (DST) were done for a subset of LJ grown MTBC isolates. Data was analysed by STATA version 17 software and a P-value < 0.05 were considered statistically significant.The proportion of lineage 3 was larger among CDPTB patients (31%, 13/42) compared to BCPTB patients (15%, 11/74) (P-value < 0.05). A higher proportion of MTBC isolates from CDPTB 16.6% (3/18) were phenotypically resistant to one or more anti-TB drugs than BCPTB 12% (4/33) (P-value > 0.05). A single lineage 3 strain resistant to all the primary anti-TB drugs was detected in one CDPTB by both DST methods.The observed differences in the genotypes of MTBC isolates between CDPTB and BCPTB patients may be attributed to challenges in the identification of CDPTB that requiresfurther investigation on sequenced genome of the MTBC strains for better understanding and recommendation based on the current finding. . There was also primary drug resistant TB among culture positive CDPTB patients which would be otherwise missed by current national protocols.

    Keywords: BCPTB, CDPTB, Ethiopia, GeneXpert, smear-microscopy, MTBC, Spoligotyping, WGS

    Received: 05 Jul 2024; Accepted: 23 Oct 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Alemayehu, Wassie, Neway, Tafese, Hailu, Ayele, Bobosha, Seyoum, Aseffa, Petros and Howe. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Alem Alemayehu, Department of Microbial Cellular and Molecular Biology, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

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