Imperial College London
Alternate

DrBrianRobertson

Faculty of Medicine, Department of Infectious Disease

Reader in Systems Microbiology
 
 
 
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Contact

 

b.robertson

 
 
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Location

 

3.41Flowers buildingSouth Kensington Campus

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Summary

 

Publications

Citation

BibTex format

@article{Comas:2015:10.1016/j.cub.2015.10.061,
author = {Comas, I and Hailu, E and Kiros, T and Bekele, S and Mekonnen, W and Gumi, B and Tschopp, R and Ameni, G and Hewinson, RG and Robertson, BD and Goig, GA and Stucki, D and Gagneux, S and Aseffa, A and Young, D and Berg, S},
doi = {10.1016/j.cub.2015.10.061},
journal = {Current Biology},
pages = {3260--3266},
title = {Population Genomics of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in Ethiopia Contradicts the Virgin Soil Hypothesis for Human Tuberculosis in Sub-Saharan Africa},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2015.10.061},
volume = {25},
year = {2015}
}
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RIS format (EndNote, RefMan)

TY  - JOUR
AB  - Colonial medical reports claimed that tuberculosis (TB) was largely unknown in Africa prior to European contact, providing a “virgin soil” for spread of TB in highly susceptible populations previously unexposed to the disease [1 and 2]. This is in direct contrast to recent phylogenetic models which support an African origin for TB [3, 4, 5 and 6]. To address this apparent contradiction, we performed a broad genomic sampling of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in Ethiopia. All members of the M. tuberculosis complex (MTBC) arose from clonal expansion of a single common ancestor [ 7] with a proposed origin in East Africa [ 3, 4 and 8]. Consistent with this proposal, MTBC lineage 7 is almost exclusively found in that region [ 9, 10 and 11]. Although a detailed medical history of Ethiopia supports the view that TB was rare until the 20th century [12], over the last century Ethiopia has become a high-burden TB country [13]. Our results provide further support for an African origin for TB, with some genotypes already present on the continent well before European contact. Phylogenetic analyses reveal a pattern of serial introductions of multiple genotypes into Ethiopia in association with human migration and trade. In place of a “virgin soil” fostering the spread of TB in a previously naive population, we propose that increased TB mortality in Africa was driven by the introduction of European strains of M. tuberculosis alongside expansion of selected indigenous strains having biological characteristics that carry a fitness benefit in the urbanized settings of post-colonial Africa.
AU  - Comas,I
AU  - Hailu,E
AU  - Kiros,T
AU  - Bekele,S
AU  - Mekonnen,W
AU  - Gumi,B
AU  - Tschopp,R
AU  - Ameni,G
AU  - Hewinson,RG
AU  - Robertson,BD
AU  - Goig,GA
AU  - Stucki,D
AU  - Gagneux,S
AU  - Aseffa,A
AU  - Young,D
AU  - Berg,S
DO  - 10.1016/j.cub.2015.10.061
EP  - 3266
PY  - 2015///
SN  - 1879-0445
SP  - 3260
TI  - Population Genomics of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in Ethiopia Contradicts the Virgin Soil Hypothesis for Human Tuberculosis in Sub-Saharan Africa
T2  - Current Biology
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2015.10.061
UR  - http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/29935
VL  - 25
ER  -
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