Estimates of Genetic Variability of &lt;i&gt;Mycobacterium tuberculosis&lt;/i&gt; Complex and Its Association with Drug Resistance in Cameroon
The present study investigates the genetic diversity among Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex circulating in the Centre region of Cameroon and analyzes the relationship between genotypes and drug resistance patterns. Spoligotyping was performed by PCR-amplification followed by the reverse hybridization of 298 cultured specimens. Spoligotypes patterns were identified by comparison to reference strains in SPolDB4 database via the MIRU VNTR plus web application. About 97.65% of all tuberculosis (TB) cases were attributed to M. tuberculosis. A total of 65 different profiles were identified. Of these, 40 were represented as Shared Types (ST) while the others were orphans. LAM10_CAM and Haarlem families were the most prevalent genetic families with 51.01% and 14.09% respectively. ST 61, a member of the LAM10_ CAM family formed the largest cluster with 128 (42.95%) isolates. No association was found between genotypes with regard to drug resistance and HIV sero-status. However, there was a significant association between genotypes and age groups. Patients belonging to 15 - 24 and 35 - 44 age groups were more likely infected by LAM10_CAM strains compared to others. The population structure of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex strains from the Centre region was found to be diverse and the spoligotype 61 of the LAM10_CAM family was highly predominant. Isolates of the LAM10_CAM seem to be not associated with drug resistance.