The role of Azeri patients in transmission of tuberculosis to East Azerbaijan, Iran

Abstract

Tuberculosis (TB) among of infectious diseases is the second leading cause of death in worldwide and about a third to a half of people in the world is infected with mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB). 1 The estimated rate of new TB cases in the world were 8.6 million in 2012 and 1.3 million deaths. 2 Human populations travel have a key role in the spread of disease. Transmission of TB in resulting of human migration has had a major effect on the spread of TB to uninfected groups. 3 The important subject in the transmission of TB is travel from high incidence countries to low incidence countries. 4 The resurgence of TB likely have been related to the increase of human mobility, remove of TB control programs, the appearance of drug-resistant strains of MTB, co-infection with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and poverty. 5 We need to understand about the spread of TB inside and across the borders of the country to design a suitable program for TB control. Progress in molecular biology has provided powerful methods for typing and detection MTB in epidemiological studies. 6 The IS6110 is an insertion sequence that belongs to IS3 family. IS6110 commonly used for detection of MTB, 7 epidemiological studies 8 and recent transmission. 9 In IS6110-restriction ac.ir/JARCMHuman migration can transmit infectious disease like tuberculosis (TB) to recipient countries. The IS6110 is an insertion sequence used for strain differentiation of mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB), epidemiological studies, and recent transmission. In this study, our aim was to investigate transmission TB from the Republic of Azerbaijan to Iran people.Totally 119 isolates of MTB were collected from 14 patients from Republic of Azerbaijan and 105 patients from East Azerbaijan, Iran who referred to TB centers of the province. Isolates were analyzed by IS6110 restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) typing. Isolates with identical RFLP patterns were considered a cluster.93 distinct IS6110-RFLP patterns were revealed. 81 of these patterns were unique, and 12 were shared by 2-8 strains. 38 strains (31.9%) belonged to one of 12 clusters that were found among the total of 119 strains. One of these 12 clusters contained two Iranian patients with one Azeri patient.Finding of the present study indicates that Azeri TB patients refer to TB centers of the province for treatment can transmit TB to East Azerbaijan people. Therefore, it needs to design a suitable program for TB control and decrease transmission of TB between these two countries.

Incidence and Prevalence of Tuberculosis in Iran and Neighboring Countries

“…Besides the treatment of tuberculosis is free in Iran so some patients come from Azerbaijan to Iran for treatment subsequently the chance of tuberculosis transmission will be increased. The similar culture between two areas increased the people exposure [5,16]. In view of that, the management of patients travel from Azerbaijan to Iran should be considered.…”

“…The rate of tuberculosis in-fections reduced after 2011 because the governmental budgets for tuberculosis control and treatment had increased. This country is a member of high Multi drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) burden countries [15,16]. b) Russia Federation Russia is the biggest country in northern borders of Iran that the prevalence of tuberculosis is a major problem in some regions.…”