Author(s)

Irene Ane-Anyangwe^1*, Wilfred Fon Mbacham², Henry Dilonga Meriki³, Teyim Pride^1,2, Theresa Nkuo-Akenji¹, Veronique Mbeng Penlap², Leopold Djomkam Tietcheu², Damian Nota Anong¹, Akindeh Mbuh Nji², Vincent P. K. Titanji¹

¹Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, Faculty of Science, University of Buea, Buea, Cameroon.
²Laboratory for Public Health Research Biotechnologies, Biotechnology Centre, University of Yaoundé, Yaoundé, Cameroon.
³Mezam Polyclinic, Bamenda, Cameroon.

Drug sensitivity testing to establish resistance to TB drugs takes many months to arrive at. Public health physicians have difficulties with such an approach due to long wait periods and cannot use it to establish community wide prevalence as a way to understand where resistance may be emerging faster and to limit its spread. The objective of this study was to use the dot-blot hybridization technique in the detection of resistance to rifamycin (RIF) and streptomycin (SM) in South- Western Cameroon and to compare the technique with the routine culture and drug susceptibility testing for detecting resistance in a resource poor country, Cameroon. A hospital-based study was conducted at the Regional hospitals of Buea and Limbe and Tiko Central Clinic. Tuberculosis (TB) patients aged 15 to 50 (mean age: 30.50 ± 8.33 standard deviation) were recruited for the study between December 2006 and April 2007. Cultures from 59 patients were tested for rifampicin and streptomycin sensitivity by the modified proportion method and mutational analysis for rpoB codon 516 and rrs codon 513 was performed by the dot-blot hybridization technique. Of the 59 sputum samples collected (36 were males and 23 were females) came from Buea 19 (32.2%), Limbe 20 (33.9%) and Tiko 20 (33.9%) towns respectively. Amplification for the gene showed that there was (59) 100% amplification with primers used for rpoB genes and 43 (72.9%) amplification with primers used for the rrs gene. Mutational analysis demonstrated that resistance to RIF was common in females (52.1%) than males (41.7%) while 6% of the samples were indeterminate. 12 (20.3%) samples showed phenotypic and genotypic resistance to RIF compared to 34 samples (58.1%) for SM. Phenotypic resistance and genotypic susceptibility were found in 5 (8.5%) RIF and 3 (4.7%) SM compared to phenotypic susceptibility and genotypic resistance that were found in 2 (3.5%) RIF and 3(4.7%) SM. Double mutation on rpoB and rrs genes occurred in 8 (13.6%) DNA samples. Resistance to RIF and SM due to mutations on the rpoB and rrs genes respectively in the SW region was found to be high and comparable to the drug susceptibility testing by 92%, (95% CI: 75.7 - 99.1). The Dot-blot technique will be useful in rapidly assessing the effectiveness of national TB control programs in limiting the spread of resistance strains in Cameroon.

PCR-Based DOT-Blot Analysis, Rifamycin, Streptomycin, SW Region

Ane-Anyangwe, I. , Mbacham, W. , Meriki, H. , Pride, T. , Nkuo-Akenji, T. , Penlap, V. , Tietcheu, L. , Anong, D. , Nji, A. and Titanji, V. (2016) The Use of the PCR-Based Dot-Blot Hybridization Assay to Detect Resistance Markers to Rifampicin and Streptomycin in Mycobacterium tuberculosis Isolates from the SW Region of Cameroon. Journal of Tuberculosis Research, 4, 72-79. doi: 10.4236/jtr.2016.42009.