Low Dose Aerosol Fitness at the Innate Phase of Murine Infection Better Predicts Virulence amongst Clinical Strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis
Background Evaluation of a quick and easy model to determine the intrinsic ability of clinical strains to generate active TB has been set by assuming that this is linked to the fitness of Mycobacterium tuberculosis strain at the innate phase of the infection. Thus, the higher the bacillary load, the greater the possibility of inducting liquefaction, and thus active TB, once the adaptive response is set. Methodology/Principal Findings The virulence of seven clinical Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains isolated in Spain was tested by determining the bacillary concentration in the spleen and lung of mice at weeks 0, 1 and 2 after intravenous (IV) inoculation of 104 CFU, and by determining the growth in vitro until the stationary phase had been reached. Cord distribution automated analysis showed two clear patterns related to the high and low fitness in the lung after IV infection. This pattern was not seen in the in vitro fitness tests, which clearly favored the reference strain (H37Rv). Subsequent determinatio
3 Jan 2012 ... Dario Garcia de Viedma,. Affiliations CIBER Enfermedades Respiratorias, Bunyola, Balears, Spain, Servicio de Microbiología Clínica y ...