Genetic diversity of Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains isolated in Algeria: Results of spoligotyping

Objective/background: Molecular typing tools, including spoligotyping, are currently widely used in the monitoring and study of the dynamics of tuberculosis epidemics. Methods: A study of the molecular profile of a sample of 129 Myobacterium tuberculosis strains isolated during 2011 was carried out in the National Reference Laboratory for Tuberculosis and Mycobacteria at the Pasteur Institute of Algeria. This sample was selected at random from a set of 350 strains isolated from tuberculosis patients from central and eastern areas of the country. Results: Genotypic analysis helped to clarify the frequencies of the different genotypes in the current study population: H family, 29%; LAM family, 26%; T family, 25%; S family, 5%, and other genomic families, including orphan strains, 15%. Conclusion: The study of strains isolated between January and December 2011 has allowed insight into the frequency of different genomic families and the importance of existing clusters in the population of central and eastern Algeria.