A virulent Beijing tuberculosis bacterial strain, one that was not previously identified on-site and that was brought in by a Liberian refugee in 1993, exploded into a “micro epidemic” over a 4-year period to become the most common cause of the disease on Spain’s Gran Canaria Island. The researchers report that a single Liberian refugee spawned 75 new cases, which accounted for 27 percent of all strains in 1996 on Gran Canaria. The isolate was not present on the island in surveys conducted from 1991 to 1992.
Among the 75 cases of the Beijing TB strain identified, this strain could be responsible for “important components of the worldwide resurgence of tuberculosis, and may represent an epidemic within the larger tuberculosis epidemic.”
The research appears in the first of two October issues of the American Thoracic Society peer-reviewed American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.
30-Oct-2001
