Snapshot of the genetic diversity of Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates in Iraq.

Unlabelled: This study explored the genetic diversity of Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates in Iraq by spoligotyping and 15-locus-based mycobacterial interspersed repetitive unit-variable number tandem repeat (MIRU-VNTR) methods. Initially, 270 isolates from 134 patients were collected and then 134 non-duplicating isolates (1 isolate/patient) were subjected to the study analyses, 70 isolates were found to be multidrug resistant (MDR) upon testing by proportion method on Löwenstein-Jensen medium. Spoligotyping yielded 39 patterns; 111/134 (82.