Molecular study of mycobacterial strains prevalent in the Czech Republic in 2014

Aim: To identify Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains prevalent in the Czech Republic in 2014.

Material and methods: DNA from 269 M. tuberculosis strains obtained from patients residing in the Czech Republic in 2014. Based on a step-by-step analysis, the strains were classified into genetically related groups using the MIRU-VNTRplus website.

Results: Four global lineages were identified: 1 Indo-Oceanic, 2 East-Asian (13.8%), 3 Central-Asian, and 4 Euro-American (83.6%) with the following sublineages: Haarlem (44.2%), H37Rv, Cameroon, Latin American-Mediterranean (LAM), Haarlem / X, NEW-1, URAL, S, X, TUR, and UgandaI. Fully identical repetitive sequences were found in 27.1% of strains belonging to two global lineages: 2 East-Asian (2 groups) and 4 Euro-American (21 groups): sublineages Haarlem (11 groups), H37Rv (3 groups), Cameroon (2 groups), Haarlem / X (2 groups), X (1 group), LAM (1 group), and S (1 group). In the set of study strains, seven were multidrug resistant without clustering. Four MDR strains belonging to global lineage 2 East-Asian (Beijing) and three MDR strains belonging to global lineage 4 Euro-American (2 strains of sublineage Latin American-Mediterranean (LAM), and 1 strain of sublineage Haarlem).

Conclusions: A one-year study aimed at the identification of mycobacterial strains prevalent all over the Czech Republic in 2014. The study is the first to present data on the geographical distribution of M. tuberculosis strains in the population.