Rapid whole-genome sequencing for investigation of a suspected tuberculosis outbreak

Abstract

Two Southeast Asian students attending the same school in the United Kingdom presented with pulmonary tuberculosis. An epidemiological investigation failed to link the two cases, and drug resistance profiles of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates were discrepant. Whole-genome sequencing of the isolates found them to be genetically identical, suggesting a missed transmission event. Copyright © 2013, American Society for Microbiology.