Molecular drug susceptibility testing and genotyping of Mycobacterium leprae strains from South America.

Pushpendra Singh (1) , Philippe Busso (1) , Alberto Paniz-Mondolfi (2) , Nacarid Aranzazu (2) , Marc Monot (3) , Nadine Honore (3) , Andrea de Faria Fernandes Belone (4) , Marcos Virmond (4) , Maria Esther Villarreal-Olaya (5) , Carlos Rivas (6) , Stewart T Cole (1)

1 Global Health Institute - Institut d'Infectiologie [Lausanne]
2 Instituto de Biomedicina [Caracas]
3 IP - Institut Pasteur [Paris]
4 Instituto Lauro de Souza Lima
5 National Leprosy Program
6 Departamento de Laboratorio

Possible drug resistance in Mycobacterium leprae strains from Venezuela and three other South American countries was surveyed by molecular methods. None of the 230 strains from new leprosy cases exhibited drug resistance-associated mutations. However, two of the three strains from relapsed cases contained dapsone resistance mutations, and one strain also harbored a rifampin resistance mutation. Single nucleotide polymorphism analysis of these strains revealed five subtypes: 3I (73.8%), 4P (11.6%), 1D (6.9%), 4N (6%), and 4O (1.7%).

Domains: Life Sciences [q-bio]; Biochemistry, Molecular Biology; Molecular biology

Pushpendra Singh, Philippe Busso, Alberto Paniz-Mondolfi, Nacarid Aranzazu, Marc Monot, et al.. Molecular drug susceptibility testing and genotyping of Mycobacterium leprae strains from South America.. Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, 2011, 55 (6), pp.2971-3. ⟨10.1128/AAC.00201-11⟩. ⟨pasteur-01370845⟩