Identifying and mapping TB hot spots in an urban slum by integratingGeographic positioning system and the local postman - A pilot study.

Setting: Mahavir DOT Centre, Hyderabad, Telangana, India INTRODUCTION: Urban slums are characterized by crowding, poverty. In such setting due to lack of infection control the transmission of tuberculosis is known to rise, thereby creating a "Hot" spot. Distribution of residences in such areas does not necessarily follow postal codes, making it difficult for health workers to locate TB patients unless accompanied by the STLS.

Modern and ancestral genotypes of Mycobacterium tuberculosis from Andhra Pradesh, India.

Traditionally, the distribution of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis genotypes in India has been characterized by widespread prevalence of ancestral lineages (TbD1+ strains and variants) in the south and the modern forms (TbD1(-) CAS and variants) predominating in the north of India. The pattern was, however, not clearly known in the south-central region such as Hyderabad and the rest of the state of Andhra Pradesh where the prevalence of both tuberculosis (TB) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection is one of the highest in the country; this area has been the hotspot of TB vaccine trials. Spoligotyping of 101 clinical isolates obtained from Hyderabad and rural Andhra Pradesh confirmed the occurrence of major genogroups such as the ancestral (or the TbD1+ type or the East African Indian (EAI) type), the Central Asian (CAS) or Delhi type and the Beijing lineage in Andhra Pradesh.