High prevalence of clustered tuberculosis cases in Peruvian migrants in Florence, Italy

Abstract

Tuberculosis is a leading cause of morbidityfor Peruvian migrants in Florence, Italy, wherethey account for about 20% of yearly diagnosedcases. A retrospective study on cases notifiedin Peruvian residents in Florence in the period2001-2010 was carried out and availableMycobacterium tuberculosis strains were geno-typed (MIRU-VNTR-24 and Spoligotyping).One hundred thirty eight cases were retrieved.Genotyping performed in 87 strains revealedthat 39 (44.8%) belonged to 12 clusters.Assuming that in each cluster the transmis-sion of tuberculosis from the index case tookplace in Florence, a large proportion of casescould be preventable by improving early diag-nosis of contagious cases and contact tracing.