Shiloh
Editor, Senior Moderator
Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-12/cp-sdo120215.php
Public Release: 10-Dec-2015
Surprising diversity of TB strains found in Ethiopia
Cell Press
Ethiopia is a hotspot for tuberculosis (TB) infection, ranking third among African countries and eighth in the world for TB burden according to the World Health Organization. But, say researchers who have analyzed the genomes of 66 TB strains and reported their findings in the Cell Press journal Current Biology on December 10, that's most likely not because TB was absent in the country before Europeans made contact--the so-called "virgin soil hypothesis"--as had been proposed ever since colonial times. Rather, they suggest, Europeans may have introduced a new wave of disease spread by more virulent TB strains, which spread during the 20th century as countries of Sub-Saharan Africa grew increasingly urbanized.
The new genomic analysis finds a surprising amount of diversity amongst TB strains in Ethiopia. It also adds to evidence that Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacterium responsible for TB, originated in Africa...
Public Release: 10-Dec-2015
Surprising diversity of TB strains found in Ethiopia
Cell Press
Ethiopia is a hotspot for tuberculosis (TB) infection, ranking third among African countries and eighth in the world for TB burden according to the World Health Organization. But, say researchers who have analyzed the genomes of 66 TB strains and reported their findings in the Cell Press journal Current Biology on December 10, that's most likely not because TB was absent in the country before Europeans made contact--the so-called "virgin soil hypothesis"--as had been proposed ever since colonial times. Rather, they suggest, Europeans may have introduced a new wave of disease spread by more virulent TB strains, which spread during the 20th century as countries of Sub-Saharan Africa grew increasingly urbanized.
The new genomic analysis finds a surprising amount of diversity amongst TB strains in Ethiopia. It also adds to evidence that Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacterium responsible for TB, originated in Africa...