Tuberc Respir Dis.  1990 Mar;37(1):83-92. 10.4046/trd.1990.37.1.83.

Phage Typing of M. tuberculosis Isolated from Korean Patients

• KMID: 2528515
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4046/trd.1990.37.1.83

Abstract

Phage types of Mycobacterium tuberculosis were studied to characterize the types of M. tuberculosis isolated in Korea. Two hundred and forty eight strains of M. tuberculosis isolated from sample populations throughtout Korea during the 5th Nation-wide Tuberculosis Prevalence Survey of 1985. were used in this study. The isolates were typed by their susceptibility of 4 major mycobacteriophages. Major types were further divided by susceptibility of the strains to 6 auxiliary phages for supplementing the subdivision of M. tuberculosis . The results are summarized as follows: 1) In the 180 sample areas, 44, 108 persons were subjected to the study and 248 strains of M. tuberculosis were isolated. The phage typings of the isolates revealed that majority (85.5% . 212/ 248) were grouped into type 1 and the others were grouped into type 2 (6.5% , 16/ 248), type 8 (4.0% . 10/ 248), type 7 (2 .4% , 6/ 248) and type 5 (0.8% , 2/ 248). Two isolates (0.8%) were found to be resistant to all mycobacteriophages tested in the usual 7 -10 day’s incubation for lysis. 2) The occurrence of the specific phage types were found to be correlated with the various epidemiologic variables, i.e. higher prevalence (p<0.10) of type 1M. tuberculosis were found in rural area and male compared with those found in urban and female. No significant association between the phage types and other variables such as their resident area, age, occupation, the extent of disease by chest X-ray, chemotherapy history, and presence of BCG scar, were noticed. 3) The physico.chemical differences of M. tuberculosis did not affect the susceptibilities of the bacteria to the phages tested. Particular pattems of susceptibility of the bacteria to auxiliary phages were not related to the variables mentioned but too few strains were present in the subgroups to detect small differences in distribution.