Molecular diversity of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex in Sikkim, India and prediction of dominant spoligotypes using artificial intelligence.

In India, tuberculosis is an enormous public health problem. This study provides the first description of molecular diversity of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC) from Sikkim, India. A total of 399 Acid Fast Bacilli sputum positive samples were cultured on Lőwenstein-Jensen media and genetic characterisation was done by spoligotyping and 24-loci MIRU-VNTR typing.

Non-response to first-line anti-tuberculosis treatment in Sikkim, India: a risk-factor analysis study.

Sikkim, India, has the highest proportion of tuberculosis (TB) patients on first-line anti-tuberculosis regimens with the outcome 'failure' or 'shifted to regimen for multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB)'. To assess the factors associated with non-response to treatment, i.e.