Genetic Diversity of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex isolates circulating in North Central Nigeria

With the higher risk of tuberculosis associated with developing countries, it has increasingly become imperative to determine the genetic diversity of strains of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC).This is essential for establishing control programs as it provides information on possible sources and chains of transmission.This study aimed to assess the genetic diversity of M. tuberculosis complex strains isolated from the North Central Nigeria using the 12-locus MIRU-VNTR.Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex isolates (106) obtained from a previous study between November 2017 and December 2018 were characterized using the 12-locus mycobacterial interspersed repetitive unit variable number tandem repeats (MIRU-VNTR) typing method.Data generated were then analyzed using the MIRU-VNTRplus web application to determine the allelic diversity.Allelic diversity as determined by the Hunter-Gaston diversity index showed a variation from 0.21 to 0.81 associated with MIRU locus 2 and 26 respectively.In total, 41.7% of the loci were highly discriminant, 41.7% moderately discriminant, and 16.7% were poorly discriminant.MIRU-VNTR typing revealed a high diversity, with a clustering rate of 1.9% and a total of ten different genotypes.UgandaII (Lineage 4) was the most common (14, 21.2%), followed by Bovis (10, 15.1%) and Cameroon (6, 9.1%); UgandaI (Lineage 4) was the least common (1, 1.5%).