Genotyping of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in New South Wales: Results from 18 months of a statewide trial

Abstract

Several molecular typing methods are available to assist public health practitioners in identifying clusters of recently acquired tuberculosis cases. Molecular typing or fingerprinting investigates variations in microbial populations, defines specific clones and identifies outbreaks by matching molecular fingerprints of epidemiologically linked isolates. The combination of two or more methods, with different preselected genomic loci in the Mycobacterium tuberculosis genome, have been used to identify and track outbreaks, define high-risk groups and target prevention strategies.Table 1 compares three current typing methods.