OBJECTIVE To compare drug resistance (DR) rates and genetic diversity of Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains from different states of Mexico. MATERIALS AND METHODS A systematic review of English and Spanish-language articles using MEDLINE and Google Scholar. Search terms included Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Mexico, resistance, mutation and epidemiology. RESULTS Fifteen studies for phenotypic...

Early diagnosis of drug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis is urgently needed to optimize treatment regimens and to prevent the transmission of resistant strains. Real-time PCR assays have been developed to detect drug resistance rapidly, but none of them have been widely applied due to their complexity, high cost, or requirement for advanced instruments. In this study, we developed a real-ti...

1 Early diagnosis of drug resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis is urgently needed to 2 optimize treatment regimens and to prevent the transmission of resistant strains. Real3 time PCR assays have been developed to detect drug resistance rapidly, but none of them 4 have been widely applied due to their complexity, high cost, or requirement for advanced 5 instruments. In this study, we developed ...

We read with great interest the letter by Kö ser et al., 1 responding to our article on the characterization of the embB gene in the area of Barcelona. 2 The point that Kö ser et al. 1 raise is very interesting and deserves further comment. Codon 378 has indeed been described by several authors as a phylogenetic polymorphism not related to resistance. 3,4 However, in our opinion the role of thi...