Mycobacterium tuberculosis RD-Rio Strain in Kazakhstan

Abstract

Mycobacterium tuberculosis RD-Rio strains are still rare in the former Soviet Union countries and Asia. We describe a strain in Kazakhstan that belongs to the RD-Rio secondary branch, which is endemic to northwest Russia and eastern Europe. Although RD-Rio strains are frequently multidrug resistant, this heterogeneous branch included only drug-susceptible isolates.

Keywords

• tuberculosis
• molecular epidemiology
• mycobacteria
• bacteria
• drug resistance
• antimicrobial resistance