Analysis of potential household transmission events of tuberculosis in the city of Belem, Brazil

This work was funded by Coordena??o de Aperfei?oamento de Pessoal de N?vel Superior (CAPES), Institut d'Estudis Catalans (IEC) and the Swiss National Science Foundation (grants 310030_166687 and IZRJZ3_164171). Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro. Instituto de Microbiologia Paulo de Go?s. Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil. Universidade do Estado do Par?. Programa de P?s-gradua??o em Biologia Parasit?ria na Amaz?nia. Bel?m, PA, Brazil. Minist?rio da Sa?de. Secretaria de Vigil?ncia em Sa?de. Instituto Evandro Chagas. Ananindeua, PA, Brasil. Universidade do Estado do Par?. Programa de P?s-gradua??o em Biologia Parasit?ria na Amaz?nia. Bel?m, PA, Brazil. Universidade do Estado do Par?. Programa de P?s-gradua??o em Biologia Parasit?ria na Amaz?nia. Bel?m, PA, Brazil. Universidade do Estado do Par?. Programa de P?s-gradua??o em Biologia Parasit?ria na Amaz?nia. Bel?m, PA, Brazil. Universidade Federal do Par?. Hospital Universit?rio Jo?o de Barros Barreto. Bel?m, PA, Brazil. Universidade Federal do Par?. Hospital Universit?rio Jo?o de Barros Barreto. Bel?m, PA, Brazil. University of Delhi. Delhi College of Engineering. New Delhi, India. Universidade do Estado do Par?. Programa de P?s-gradua??o em Biologia Parasit?ria na Amaz?nia. Bel?m, PA, Brazil / Minist?rio da Sa?de. Secretaria de Vigil?ncia em Sa?de. Instituto Evandro Chagas. Ananindeua, PA, Brasil. Funda??o Oswaldo Cruz. Instituto Oswaldo Cruz. Laborat?rio de Biologia Molecular Aplicada as Micobact?rias, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil. Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro. Instituto de Microbiologia Paulo de Go?s. Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil. Universidade Federal do Cear?. Departamento de Patologia e Medicina Legal. Fortaleza, CE, Brazil. Swiss Tropical & Public Health Institute. Basel, Switzerland / University of Basel. Basel, Switzerland. Swiss Tropical & Public Health Institute. Basel, Switzerland / University of Basel. Basel, Switzerland. Funda??o Oswaldo Cruz. Instituto Oswaldo Cruz. Laborat?rio de Biologia Molecular Aplicada as Micobact?rias, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil. Minist?rio da Sa?de. Secretaria de Vigil?ncia em Sa?de. Instituto Evandro Chagas. Ananindeua, PA, Brasil / Minist?rio da Sa?de. Secretaria de Vigil?ncia em Sa?de. Instituto Evandro Chagas. Ananindeua, PA, Brasil. Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease with a higher risk for infection and disease among household contacts (HHC). Here, we report a molecular epidemiology-based approach to study disease transmission and the genetic characteristics of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) strains among HHC in the city of Belem, the capital of the state of Para in north Brazil. The study included 63 TB patients belonging to 26 HHC groups (HHC1 to HHC26). Spoligotyping and 24-loci Mycobacterial Interspersed Repetitive Unit - Variable Number of Tandem Repeat (MIRU-VNTR) revealed indistinguishable bacterial genotypes among 26 patients in 14 (53.8%) HHC groups. Drug susceptibility testing (DST) revealed that 45 (71.4%) of the Mtb isolates were multidrug resistant. The major cluster composed of isolates from five HHCs and on three of these, whole genome sequencing (WGS) was performed confirming their high genetic similarity. These results pinpoint the need for improved vigilance for TB control in households in the city of Bel?m. When comparing WGS versus phenotypic resistance detection methods as DST and Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) our data suggest that depending on the colonies selection, results may present variation.