Population structure and spatial distribution of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in Ethiopia.

Ethiopia is one of the countries with a high tuberculosis (TB) burden, yet little is known about the spatial distribution of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) lineages. This study identifies the spoligotyping of 1735 archived Mtb isolates from the National Drug Resistance Survey, collected between November 2011 and June 2013, to investigate Mtb population structure and spatial distribution. Spoligotype International Types (SITs) and lineages were retrieved from online databases. The distribution of lineages was evaluated using Fisher's exact test and logistic regression models. The Global Moran's Index and Getis-Ord Gi statistic were utilized to identify hotspot areas. Our results showed that spoligotypes could be interpreted and led to 4 lineages and 283 spoligotype patterns in 91% of the isolates, including 4% of those with multidrug/rifampicin resistance (MDR/RR) TB. The identified Mtb lineages were lineage 1 (1.8%), lineage 3 (25.9%), lineage 4 (70.6%) and lineage 7 (1.6%). The proportion of lineages 3 and 4 varied by regions, with lineage 3 being significantly greater than lineage 4 in reports from Gambella (AOR = 4.37, P < 0.001) and Tigray (AOR = 3.44, P = 0.001) and lineage 4 being significantly higher in Southern Nations Nationalities and Peoples Region (AOR = 1.97, P = 0.026) than lineage 3. Hotspots for lineage 1 were located in eastern Ethiopia, while a lineage 7 hotspot was identified in northern and western Ethiopia. The five prevalent spoligotypes, which were SIT149, SIT53, SIT25, SIT37 and SIT26 account for 42.8% of all isolates under investigation, while SIT149, SIT53 and SIT21 account for 52-57.8% of drug-resistant TB cases. TB and drug resistant TB are mainly caused by lineages 3 and 4, and significant proportions of the prevalent spoligotypes also influence drug-resistant TB and the total TB burden. Regional variations in lineages may result from both local and cross-border spread.

A global land cover training dataset from 1984 to 2020.

State-of-the-art cloud computing platforms such as Google Earth Engine (GEE) enable regional-to-global land cover and land cover change mapping with machine learning algorithms. However, collection of high-quality training data, which is necessary for accurate land cover mapping, remains costly and labor-intensive. To address this need, we created a global database of nearly 2 million training units spanning the period from 1984 to 2020 for seven primary and nine secondary land cover classes. Our training data collection approach leveraged GEE and machine learning algorithms to ensure data quality and biogeographic representation. We sampled the spectral-temporal feature space from Landsat imagery to efficiently allocate training data across global ecoregions and incorporated publicly available and collaborator-provided datasets to our database. To reflect the underlying regional class distribution and post-disturbance landscapes, we strategically augmented the database. We used a machine learning-based cross-validation procedure to remove potentially mis-labeled training units. Our training database is relevant for a wide array of studies such as land cover change, agriculture, forestry, hydrology, urban development, among many others.

Minimum inhibitory concentrations of rifampin and isoniazid among multidrug and isoniazid resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis in Ethiopia.

INTRODUCTION: Traditionally, single critical concentrations of drugs are utilized for Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) drug susceptibility testing (DST); however, the level of drug resistance can impact treatment choices and outcomes. Mutations at the katG gene are the major genetic mutations in multidrug resistant (MDR) Mtb and usually associated with high level resistance. We assessed the minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of MDR or rifampin resistant (RR) and isoniazid (INH) resistant Mtb isolates to determine the quantification of drug resistance among key anti-tuberculosis drugs. METHODS: The study was conducted on stored Mtb isolates collected as part of a national drug resistance survey in Ethiopia. MIC values were determined using Sensititre™ MYCOTB plates. A line probe assay (MTBDRplus) was also performed to identify genetic determinants of resistance for all isolates. RESULTS: MIC testing was performed on 74 Mtb isolates including 46 MDR, 2 RR and 26 INH phenotypically resistant isolates as determined by the Löwenstein Jensen (LJ) method. Four (15%) INH resistant Mtb isolates were detected as borderline rifampin resistance (MIC = 1 µg/ml) using MYCOTB MIC plates and no rifampin resistance mutations were detected by LPA. Among the 48 MDR/RR TB cases, 9 (19%) were rifabutin susceptible (MIC was between ≤0.25 and 0.5µg/ml). Additionally, the MIC for isoniazid was between 2-4 µg/ml (moderate resistance) for 58% of MDR TB isolates and 95.6% (n = 25) of the isolates had mutations at the katG gene. CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest a role for rifabutin treatment in a subset of RR TB patients, thus potentially preserving an important drug class. The high proportion of moderate level INH resistant among MDR Mtb isolates indicates the potential benefit of high dose isoniazid treatment in a high proportion of katG gene harboring MDR Mtb isolates.

Clinical Features and Treatment Outcome of Coronavirus and Tuberculosis Co-Infected Patients: A Systematic Review of Case Reports.

Background: Coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) and Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) are among the top ongoing health crises globally. Both cause respiratory diseases, and the clinical presentations are similar. There is no summarized information about cases of COVID-19 patients with concomitant TB infection from different settings. Therefore this review aimed to summerize the clinical features and treatment outcomes of coronavirus and tuberculosis co-infected patients. Methods: An electronic search of case reports published between 2020 and 2021 was conducted using Google Scholar, PubMed, Scopus, and ScienceDirect. From eligible reports, data were collected for the selected variables. We analyzed the collected information using SPSS version 27 software. Descriptive statistics were computed for the selected variables. Results: A total of 83 patient histories were collected from 47 case reports. The majority (80%) of the cases were reported for male patients. The mean age was 42.6 years (3 months to 84 years, SD=17.3). Fever was reported in 80% of cases, followed by cough (73.3%) and hypotension (37.1%). Blood cell parameters revealed lymphopenia (52%), lower hemoglobin (30%), elevated CRP (70%), elevated ferritin (28%), and increased D-dimer (23.4%). Treatment outcome is significantly associated with blood cell count results (p-0.044) and a rise in blood inflammatory cytokines(p-0.041). The mean days for viral clearance or negative PCR was 23 days (Range 5-82 days) and the overall mean duration of hospitalization was 27 days. The total death rate was 22.4%. Recovery was reported for 76.6% of cases. Survival status (p-0.613) and disease severity (p-0.68) are not significantly associated with the gender of the participants. Conclusion: An alteration in blood cell parameters is associated with an unfavorable treatment outcome. There is a higher death rate in COVID-19/TB co-infection. The death is associated with older age, smoking or smoking history, drug abuse, and co-morbidity of non-communicable diseases. Conversely, there is a lower death rate in HIV patients.

Prediction of drug resistance by Sanger sequencing of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex strains isolated from multidrug resistant tuberculosis suspect patients in Ethiopia.

BACKGROUND: Ethiopia is one of the high multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) burden countries. However, phenotypic drug susceptibility testing can take several weeks due to the slow growth of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC) strains. In this study, we assessed the performance of a Sanger sequencing approach to predict resistance against five anti-tuberculosis drugs and the pattern of resistance mediating mutations. METHODS: We enrolled 226 MTBC culture-positive MDR-TB suspects and collected sputum specimens and socio-demographic and TB related data from each suspect between June 2015 and December 2016 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Phenotypic drug susceptibility testing (pDST) for rifampicin, isoniazid, pyrazinamide, ethambutol, and streptomycin using BACTEC MGIT 960 was compared with the results of a Sanger sequencing analysis of seven resistance determining regions in the genes rpoB, katG, fabG-inhA, pncA, embB, rpsL, and rrs. RESULT: DNA isolation for Sanger sequencing was successfully extracted from 92.5% (209/226) of the MTBC positive cultures, and the remaining 7.5% (17/226) strains were excluded from the final analysis. Based on pDST results, drug resistance proportions were as follows: isoniazid: 109/209 (52.2%), streptomycin: 93/209 (44.5%), rifampicin: 88/209 (42.1%), ethambutol: 74/209 (35.4%), and pyrazinamide: 69/209 (33.0%). Resistance against isoniazid was mainly mediated by the mutation katG S315T (97/209, 46.4%) and resistance against rifampicin by rpoB S531L (58/209, 27.8%). The dominating resistance-conferring mutations for ethambutol, streptomycin, and pyrazinamide affected codon 306 in embB (48/209, 21.1%), codon 88 in rpsL (43/209, 20.6%), and codon 65 in pncA (19/209, 9.1%), respectively. We observed a high agreement between phenotypic and genotypic DST, such as 89.9% (at 95% confidence interval [CI], 84.2%-95.8%) for isoniazid, 95.5% (95% CI, 91.2%-99.8%) for rifampicin, 98.6% (95% CI, 95.9-100%) for ethambutol, 91.3% (95% CI, 84.6-98.1%) for pyrazinamide and 57.0% (95% CI, 46.9%-67.1%) for streptomycin. CONCLUSION: We detected canonical mutations implicated in resistance to rifampicin, isoniazid, pyrazinamide, ethambutol, and streptomycin. High agreement with phenotypic DST results for all drugs renders Sanger sequencing promising to be performed as a complementary measure to routine phenotypic DST in Ethiopia. Sanger sequencing directly from sputum may accelerate accurate clinical decision-making in the future.

Genotypic and phenotypic drug-resistance detection and prevalence of heteroresistance in patients with isoniazid- and multidrug-resistant tuberculosis in Ethiopia.

Objective: To assess the agreement between genotypic and phenotypic methods for detecting drug resistance, and examine the prevalence of heteroresistance among isoniazid (INH)- and multidrug/rifampicin-resistant (MDR/RR) TB. Method: In total, 127 Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) isolates, including 65 MDR/RR and 62 INH resistant, were used. First-line drug susceptibility testing (DST) was performed using the LJ method to determine the percentage of resistant bacteria. All drug-resistant isolates underwent testing with LPA. Heteroresistance was defined as simultaneous detection of wild-type and resistance-conferring mutations using LPA. Result: The sensitivity of LPA (compared with LJ DST) was 96% for any INH-resistant TB and 94% for any RR TB. The prevalence of heteroresistance among the 123. Mtb isolates was 9.8%. The percentage of resistant bacteria ranged from 1% to 10% for heteroresistant TB. Rifampicin heteroresistance was detected in 1.6% of MDR TB patients. INH heteroresistance was detected in 1.6% and 16.7% of MDR and INH-resistant TB patients, respectively. The proportion of INH heteroresistance was significantly higher (p = 0.030) in persons living with HIV. Conclusion: Some phenotypic drug resistances were not captured by LPA. The prevalence and percentage of resistant bacteria among heteroresistant TB highlight the importance of LPA for early detection of heteroresistant TB.

Origin and Global Expansion of Mycobacterium tuberculosis Complex Lineage 3.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC) Lineage 3 (L3) strains are abundant in world regions with the highest tuberculosis burden. To investigate the population structure and the global diversity of this major lineage, we analyzed a dataset comprising 2682 L3 strains from 38 countries over 5 continents, by employing 24-loci mycobacterial interspersed repetitive unit-variable number of tandem repeats genotyping (MIRU-VNTR) and drug susceptibility testing. We further combined whole-genome sequencing (WGS) and phylogeographic analysis for 373 strains representing the global L3 genetic diversity. Ancestral state reconstruction confirmed that the origin of L3 strains is located in Southern Asia and further revealed multiple independent introduction events into North-East and East Africa. This study provides a systematic understanding of the global diversity of L3 strains and reports phylogenetic variations that could inform clinical trials which evaluate the effectivity of new drugs/regimens or vaccine candidates.

Diagnostic accuracy of three commercially available one step RT-PCR assays for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 in resource limited settings.

BACKGROUND: COVID-19 is an ongoing public health pandemic regardless of the countless efforts made by various actors. Quality diagnostic tests are important for early detection and control. Notably, several commercially available one step RT-PCR based assays have been recommended by the WHO. Yet, their analytic and diagnostic performances have not been well documented in resource-limited settings. Hence, this study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic sensitivities and specificities of three commercially available one step reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assays in Ethiopia in clinical setting. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted from April to June, 2021 on 279 respiratory swabs originating from community surveillance, contact cases and suspect cases. RNA was extracted using manual extraction method. Master-mix preparation, amplification and result interpretation was done as per the respective manufacturer. Agreements between RT-PCRs were analyzed using kappa values. Bayesian latent class models (BLCM) were fitted to obtain reliable estimates of diagnostic sensitivities, specificities of the three assays and prevalence in the absence of a true gold standard. RESULTS: Among the 279 respiratory samples, 50(18%), 59(21.2%), and 69(24.7%) were tested positive by TIB, Da An, and BGI assays, respectively. Moderate to substantial level of agreement was reported among the three assays with kappa value between 0 .55 and 0.72. Based on the BLCM relatively high specificities (95% CI) of 0.991(0.973-1.000), 0.961(0.930-0.991) and 0.916(0.875-0.952) and considerably lower sensitivities with 0.813(0.658-0.938), 0.836(0.712-0.940) and 0.810(0.687-0.920) for TIB MOLBIOL, Da An and BGI respectively were found. CONCLUSIONS: While all the three RT-PCR assays displayed comparable sensitivities, the specificities of TIB MOLBIOL and Da An were considerably higher than BGI. These results help adjust the apparent prevalence determined by the three RT-PCRs and thus support public health decisions in resource limited settings and consider alternatives as per their prioritization matrix.

Clinical performance of methylation as a biomarker for cervical carcinoma in situ and cancer diagnosis: A worldwide study.

The shift towards primary human papillomavirus (HPV)-based screening has necessitated the search for a secondary triage test that provides sufficient sensitivity to detect high-grade cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) and cancer, but also brings an improved specificity to avoid unnecessary clinical work and colposcopy referrals. We evaluated the performance of the previously described DNA-methylation test (S5) in detecting CIN3 and cancers from diverse geographic settings in high-, medium- and low-income countries, using the cut-off of 0.80 and exploratory cut-offs of 2.62 and 3.70. Assays were performed using exfoliated cervical specimens (n = 808) and formalin-fixed biopsies (n = 166) from women diagnosed with cytology-negative results (n = 220), CIN3 (n = 204) and cancer stages I (n = 245), II (n = 249), III (n = 28) and IV (n = 22). Methylation increased proportionally with disease severity (Cuzick test for trend, P < .0001). S5 accurately separated women with negative-histology from CIN3 or cancer (P < .0001). At the 0.80 cut-off, 543/544 cancers were correctly identified as S5 positive (99.81%). At cut-off 3.70, S5 showed a sensitivity of 95.77% with improved specificity. The S5 odds ratios of women negative for cervical disease vs CIN3+ were significantly higher than for HPV16/18 genotyping at all cut-offs (all P < .0001). At S5 cut-off 0.80, 96.15% of consistently high-risk human papillomavirus (hrHPV)-negative cancers (tested with multiple hrHPV-genotyping assay) were positive by S5. These cancers may have been missed in current primary hrHPV-screening programmes. The S5 test can accurately detect CIN3 and malignancy irrespective of geographic context and setting. The test can be used as a screening and triage tool. Adjustment of the S5 cut-off can be performed considering the relative importance given to sensitivity vs specificity.

Morphological diversity of northeastern fat-tailed and northwestern thin-tailed indigenous sheep breeds of Ethiopia.

Characterization of indigenous sheep breeds using morphological traits is essential for designing rational conservation and improvement strategies. This study was conducted to check the morphological diversity of three fat-tailed and three thin-tailed indigenous sheep breeds of Ethiopia. The phenotypic traits such as live body weight and linear body measurements (body length, wither height, chest girth, chest depth, rump height, rump length, ear length, tail length, and pelvic width) were measured and used for analysis. The statistical analysis was done using different procedures of SAS 9.4. Analysis of variance showed significant variation between breeds. Multivariate analyses clearly assigned the studied sheep breeds into distinct populations. Mahalanobis distance showed significant (p < 0.01) difference between breeds. The present morphometric information obtained could support future decision-making on the management, conservation, and improvement of the studied sheep genetic resources.

Low Prevalence of Mycobacterium bovis in Tuberculosis Patients, Ethiopia.

An estimated 17% of all tuberculosis cases in Ethiopia are caused by Mycobacterium bovis. We used M. tuberculosis complex isolates to identify the prevalence of M. bovis as the cause of pulmonary tuberculosis. Our findings indicate that the proportion of pulmonary tuberculosis due to M. bovis is small (0.12%).

Monitoring quality indicators for the Xpert MTB/RIF molecular assay in Ethiopia.

INTRODUCTION: In Ethiopia, >300 GeneXpert instruments have been deployed for tuberculosis (TB) testing using the Xpert MTB/RIF cartridge. Implementing quality indicators is necessary for monitoring and evaluating the quality of Xpert MTB/RIF diagnostic services. OBJECTIVE: To assess the use of quality indicators for the Xpert MTB/RIF molecular assay in Ethiopia and to compare the findings with the predefined targets described in the literature. METHODS: Clinical specimens collected from patients with suspected TB were subjected to Xpert MTB/RIF testing at the National TB Reference Laboratory (NTRL) between January and December 2018. Data were collected from GeneXpert software and Laboratory Information System (LIS) databases. Quality indicators were calculated and analyzed. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were performed using SPSS software version 20 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, Illinois, USA). RESULTS: Of the 2515 specimens tested, 2274 (90.4%) had successful test results; 18.2% were positive for Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB). Among MTB positives (n = 413), 4.8% and 1.0% were rifampicin (RIF)-resistant and RIF-indeterminate cases, respectively. Unsuccessful results were 241 (9.6%); 8.9% of the total number of tests were errors, 0.04% had invalid results and 0.6% 'no result'. The most frequent error was probe check failure (error 5007). Instrument module A4, B2, B3, C3, and D3 (p<0.05) and tester experience (p<0.05) had a statistically significant association with errors in multivariate analysis. Additional 42 MTB cases (9.2% of the total cases) were detected among unsuccessful results by follow-up tests. Sixty-four percent of the initial test results were released within the turnaround time (TAT) ≤24 hours. CONCLUSION: Most of the quality indicators for the Xpert MTB/RIF molecular assay were maintained within the targets. However, the error rate and TAT were out of the targets. Defective modules and lacking experience were the factors affecting successful test outcomes.

Drug-resistance patterns of Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains and associated risk factors among multi drug-resistant tuberculosis suspected patients from Ethiopia.

BACKGROUND: Multidrug drug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) is a major health problem and seriously threatens TB control and prevention efforts globally. Ethiopia is among the 30th highest TB burden countries for MDR-TB with 14% prevalence among previously treated cases. The focus of this study was on determining drug resistance patterns of Mycobacterium tuberculosis among MDR-TB suspected cases and associated risk factors. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted in Addis Ababa from June 2015 to December 2016. Sputum samples and socio-demographic data were collected from 358 MDR-TB suspected cases. Samples were analyzed using Ziehl-Neelsen technique, GeneXpert MTB/RIF assay, and culture using Lowenstein-Jensen and Mycobacterial growth indicator tube. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 23. RESULTS: A total of 226 the study participants were culture positive for Mycobacterium tuberculosis, among them, 133 (58.8%) participants were males. Moreover, 162 (71.7%) had been previously treated for tuberculosis, while 128 (56.6%) were TB/HIV co-infected. A majority [122 (54%)] of the isolates were resistant to any first-line anti-TB drugs. Among the resistant isolates, 110 (48.7%) were determined to be resistant to isoniazid, 94 (41.6%) to streptomycin, 89 (39.4%) to rifampicin, 72 (31.9%) to ethambutol, and 70 (30.9%) to pyrazinamide. The prevalence of MDR-TB was 89 (39.4%), of which 52/89 (58.4%) isolates were resistance to all five first-line drugs. Risk factors such as TB/HIV co-infection (AOR = 5.59, p = 0.00), cigarette smoking (AOR = 3.52, p = 0.045), alcohol drinking (AOR = 5.14, p = 0.001) hospital admission (AOR = 3.49, p = 0.005) and visiting (AOR = 3.34, p = 0.044) were significantly associated with MDR-TB. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of MDR-TB in the study population was of a significantly high level among previously treated patients and age group of 25-34. TB/HIV coinfection, smoking of cigarette, alcohol drinking, hospital admission and health facility visiting were identified as risk factors for developing MDR-TB. Therefore, effective strategies should be designed considering the identified risk factors for control of MDR-TB.

Recent achievements obtained by chloroplast transformation.

Chloroplasts play a great role for sustained wellbeing of life on the planet. They have the power and raw materials that can be used as sophisticated biological factories. They are rich in energy as they have lots of pigment-protein complexes capable of collecting sunlight, in sugar produced by photosynthesis and in minerals imported from the plant cell. Chloroplast genome transformation offers multiple advantages over nuclear genome which among others, include: integration of the transgene via homologus recombination that enables to eliminate gene silencing and position effect, higher level of transgene expression resulting into higher accumulations of foreign proteins, and significant reduction in environmental dispersion of the transgene due to maternal inheritance which helps to minimize the major critic of plant genetic engineering. Chloroplast genetic engineering has made fruit full progresses in the development of plants resistance to various stresses, phytoremediation of toxic metals, and production of vaccine antigens, biopharmaceuticals, biofuels, biomaterials and industrial enzymes. Although successful results have been achieved, there are still difficulties impeding full potential exploitation and expansion of chloroplast transformation technology to economical plants. These include, lack of species specific regulatory sequences, problem of selection and shoot regeneration, and massive expression of foreign genes resulting in phenotypic alterations of transplastomic plants. The aim of this review is to critically recapitulate the latest development of chloroplast transformation with special focus on the different traits of economic interest.