Recently high rates of tuberculosis incidence and prevalence
are observed in civilian and prisons sectors in Russia. One of the main reasons
for high morbidity levels and ineffectiveness of treatment is wide spreading of
drug resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains, but accurate and comprehensive information on levels of drug resistance among strains circulating in
Central Russia is unavailable. Rifampicin and izoniazid resistance detection in TB isolates from
Samara (Central Russia) civilian and prison TB hospitals and dispensaries in
2000–2002 by revealing mutations in rpoB, katG and inhA genes using
Macroarray technique.
Methods: A total of 342 M. tuberculosis isolates were tested using Macroarray
method. It is based on multiplex amplification of rpoB, katG and inhA genes
fragments (with three pairs of biotin labeled primers) following by dothybridization with normal and mutant oligonucleotide probes (fragments of
rpoB, katG and inhA genes in which mutations occur) immobilized on nylon
membrane strips. Mycobacterial DNA was extracted by heating of cell
suspensions following by chloroform extraction. Streptavidin-alkaline phosphatase color development system was used for visualization of results
