TY - JOUR T1 - Mycobacterium tuberculosis Complex Lineage 3 as Causative Agent of Pulmonary Tuberculosis, Eastern Sudan AU - Shuaib, Yassir A. AU - Khalil, Eltahir A.G. AU - Wieler, Lothar H. AU - Schaible, Ulrich E. AU - Bakheit, Mohammed A. AU - Mohamed-Noor, Saad E. AU - Abdalla, Mohamed A. AU - Kerubo, Glennah AU - Andres, Sönke AU - Hillemann, Doris AU - Richter, Elvira AU - Kranzer, Katharina AU - Merker, Matthias AB - Pathogen-based factors associated with tuberculosis (TB) in eastern Sudan are not well defined. We investigated genetic diversity, drug resistance, and possible transmission clusters of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC) strains by using a genomic epidemiology approach. We collected 383 sputum specimens at 3 hospitals in 2014 and 2016 from patients with symptoms suggestive of TB; of these, 171 grew MTBC strains. Whole-genome sequencing could be performed on 166 MTBC strains; phylogenetic classification revealed that most (73.4%; n = 122) belonged to lineage 3 (L3). Genome-based cluster analysis showed that 76 strains (45.9%) were grouped into 29 molecular clusters, comprising 2–8 strains/patients. Of the strains investigated, 9.0% (15/166) were multidrug resistant (MDR); 10 MDR MTBC strains were linked to 1 large MDR transmission network. Our findings indicate that L3 strains are the main causative agent of TB in eastern Sudan; MDR TB is caused mainly by transmission of MDR L3 strains. KW - MDR KW - MDR TB KW - Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex KW - Sudan KW - antimicrobial resistance KW - bacteria KW - lineage 3 KW - transmission KW - tuberculosis and other mycobacteria KW - whole-genome sequencing KW - 610 Medizin und Gesundheit PY - 2020 LA - eng PB - Robert Koch-Institut JO - Emerging Infectious Diseases VL - 26 IS - 3 SP - 427 EP - 436 DO - http://dx.doi.org/10.25646/7047 ER -