This study described the population structure of M. tuberculosis complex (MTBc) strains among patients with pulmonary or lymph node tuberculosis (TB) in Northwest Ethiopia and tested the performance of culture isolation and MPT64-based speciation for Lineage 7 (L7). Methods: Patients were recruited between April 2017 and June 2019 in North Gondar, Ethiopia. The MPT64 assay was used to confirm MTBc, and spoligotyping was used to characterize mycobacterial lineages. Line probe assay (LPA) was used to detect resistance to rifampicin and isoniazid. Results: Among 274 MTBc genotyped isolates, there were five MTBc lineages: L1-L4 and L7 were identified, with predominant East-African-Indian (L3) (53.6%) and Euro-American (L4) (40.1%) strains, and low prevalence (2.6%) of Ethiopia L7. The genotypes were similarly distributed between pulmonary and lymph node TB, and all lineages were equally isolated by culture and recognized as MTBc by the MPT64 assay. Additionally, LPA showed that 259 (94.5%) MTBc were susceptible to both rifampicin and isoniazid, and one (0.4%) was multi-drug resistant (resistant to both rifampicin and isoniazid). Conclusion: These findings show that TB in North Gondar, Ethiopia, is mainly caused by L3 and L4 strains, with low rates of L7, confirmed as MTBc by MPT64 assay and with limited resistance to rifampicin and isoniazid.

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Background Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) has continued to be a serious public health threat and significantly challenges global TB control and prevention efforts, where the TB/HIV co-infection epidemic makes the situation much worse. The aim of the study was to determine the determinant factors associated with patterns of MDR-TB among pulmonary TB patients in the Northwest Amhara, Ethiopia. Methods A hospital-based cross-sectional study was conducted from May 2022 to February 2023 in the Northwest Amhara, Ethiopia. Data on the participants’ socio-demographics and clinical characteristics were obtained using a pre-tested checklist. Phenotypic susceptibility testing to first-line anti-TB drugs was performed on 180 isolates by automated BD BACTEC MGIT 960 system. Logistic regression analysis was performed to determine the association of risk factors with patterns of MDR-TB. A p-value ≤0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results The overall proportion of TB with HIV co-infected cases was 19.8% (50/252). Culture positivity was confirmed in 203/252 (80.6%) of sputum samples. Among 168 isolates, the DST showed that 119 (70.8%) isolates were pan-susceptible to all first-line drugs and prevalence of any resistance to first-line drugs was 49,168 (29.2%). Among the resistant isolates, 28 (16.7%) were any mono-resistance and 12 (7.1%) were determined to be resistant to MDR-TB. TB with a previous TB treatment (aOR = 6.73, 95% CI: 1.78–25.47, p = 0.005) and HIV co-infected (aOR = 0.252, 95% CI: 0.73–0.875, p = 0.03) were significantly associated with MDR-TB. Conclusion Higher prevalence of TB and MDR-TB was examined among TB patients in the study area. In the study, history of previous TB treatment was the strongest risk factor MDR-TB infection followed by TB with HIV co-infected cases. Therefore, there is a need of strengthening TB control and prevention programs to reduce the increase of TB incidence, further emergence and transmission of a public health threat of MDR-TB cases.

Introduction: Tuberculosis is among infectious diseases that disproportionally affect low-income populations of the world. Intimacy of cattle and humans may play a role in the transmission of tuberculosis between man and animals. There is scarce information on risk factors of tuberculosis among cattle owners in Gondar town. Objective The aim of the study was to assess risk factors of pulmonary tuberculosis among cattle owner tuberculosis patients attending governmental health facilities in Gondar town, Northwest Amhara, Ethiopia. Methods A Case control study was conducted from March, 2019 – January, 2020. Cattle owners with active pulmonary tuberculosis attending governmental health facilities and their neighbors were recruited as study participants. The control groups were selected randomly using lottery method. Using Epi InfoTM 7.0.8.3 version software a total of 92 study participants (31 cases and 61 controls) were recruited considering proportion of bovine TB among the controls (1.9%) and among cases (20%), 5% significance level, power of 80% and a case to control ratio of 1:2.Data were collected using interviewer administered structured questionnaire and cattle tuberculin skin testing. Logistic regression analysis was conducted using STATA 15 statistical software to determine strength of association between pulmonary tuberculosis and the predictors. Results The mean ± SD age of study participants was 40.8 ± 13.4 years. Nearly two-thirds (60.9%) of the study participants were males. Living in a household with family members greater than four (AOR = 6.83; 95% CI: 1.48, 31.52), having a contact history with a TB patient (AOR = 7.80; 95% CI: 1.51, 40.36), sharing a house with cattle (AOR = 8.11; 95% CI: 1.23, 53.58) and raw milk consumption (AOR = 9.97; 95% CI: 1.67, 59.35) were the risk factors for the occurrence of tuberculosis. Conclusion The study revealed that family size, contact history, sharing house with cattle, and habit of raw milk consumption were risk factors of tuberculosis. Therefore, providing well organized health education to address these risk factors and intensifying contact tracing is vital to prevent and control tuberculosis in the study area.