Use of DNA restriction fragment typing in the differentiation of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex isolates from animals and humans in Burundi.

SETTING: Bubanza Hospital and Veterinary Laboratory in Bujumbura, Burundi.
OBJECTIVE: To monitor the rate of Mycobacterium bovis infections among tuberculosis (TB) patients and among slaughtered cattle, and to analyse the polymorphism among deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) fingerprints of the M. tuberculosis complex isolates.
DESIGN: 135 lymph node biopsies and 35 sputum specimens from human patients, together with specimens from 46 healthy animals and 36 animals suspected for bovine tuberculosis (BTB), were cultured. Isolates were identified phenotypically and DNA fingerprints were obtained by IS6110 based restriction fragment length polymorphism.
RESULTS: 119 M. tuberculosis complex isolates were obtained from 170 human specimens. M. bovis was not identified in any human sample. One out of 46 healthy animals and 14 out of 36 BTB suspected animals yielded M. bovis isolates. DNA fingerprinting revealed four to eight copies of IS6110 for all M. bovis isolates with some degree of polymorphism, and some clustering for human TB isolates. No relationship was observed between human and bovine isolates.
CONCLUSION: At present M. bovis seems to play a minor role in human TB in Burundi, despite the high prevalence of both human immunodeficiency virus infection in humans and M. bovis in cattle. DNA fingerprinting is able to differentiate between bovine isolates.