Narayanan Sujatha
Department of Immunology, Tuberculosis Research Centre (ICMR), Mayor V.R. Ramanathan Road, Chetput, Chennai 600-031, India.
Indian J Med Res. 2004 Oct;120(4):233-47.
Molecular epidemiology (ME), a blend of molecular biology and epidemiology, is very useful to study the spread of tubercle bacilli in mini epidemics, outbreaks, to analyse the transmission dynamics of tuberculosis (TB) and to determine the risk factors for TB transmission in a community. ME has a great role in distinguishing between exogenous reinfection and endogenous reactivation. In the laboratory, molecular epidemiology can be used to identify cross contamination. Many new DNA typing methods have been introduced after the initial introduction of restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) in 1993. An internationally accepted, standardized protocol for RFLP typing of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex using IS6110 was published in 1993 and is still used today. Most of the newer DNA typing methods are PCR based and microarray based methods are also available. This will enable individual strains of M. tuberculosis or clonal groups to be identified by specific phenotypic traits. ME will continue to be a useful tool in future to measure the impact of any public health intervention strategy for control of tuberculosis in the community.
分子流行病学（ME）是分子生物学与流行病学的结合，在研究结核杆菌在小规模流行、暴发中的传播，分析结核病（TB）的传播动态以及确定社区中TB传播的风险因素方面非常有用。ME在区分外源性再感染和内源性再激活方面具有重要作用。在实验室中，分子流行病学可用于识别交叉污染。自1993年首次引入限制性片段长度多态性（RFLP）后，许多新的DNA分型方法相继问世。1993年发布了一项国际认可的、使用IS6110对结核分枝杆菌复合群进行RFLP分型的标准化方案，至今仍在使用。大多数更新的DNA分型方法基于聚合酶链反应（PCR），基于微阵列的方法也已出现。这将使结核分枝杆菌的单个菌株或克隆群能够通过特定的表型特征得以识别。未来，分子流行病学仍将是衡量社区中任何控制结核病公共卫生干预策略效果的有用工具。
