In vitro Mycobacterial Growth Inhibition in South Korean Adults With Latent TB Infection

Conclusion: The Mtb infection status had a significant impact on mycobacterial growth inhibition in PBMC from healthy adults in South Korea, a country with an intermediate burden of tuberculosis, with healthy controls showing the greatest mycobacterial growth inhibition. Introduction Pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) is an airborne infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), which is a significant burden for the world, reaching 9.6 million new TB cases and 1.5 million deaths per year (1). Also, just under a quarter of the global population is latently infected with Mtb, and 5–10% of them will develop TB in their lifetimes (2). Although there has been a noteworthy improvement in controlling TB since the mid-1960s associated with economic growth (3, 4), TB still remains a major public health problem in South Korea (S. Korea), a country with an intermediate burden of TB with an estimated TB prevalence rate of 70.4 per 100,000 population (5). The age distribution of TB in S. Korea shows incidence peaks in those aged between 20 and 30 years of age and the elderly (above 65 years of age) (3, 6, 7). This may indicate ongoing transmission at the community level, as TB cases mainly occurred in the young adult group (following recent infection) and in the old age group (resulting from remote infection and reactivation). Considering the characteristics of TB epidemiology of S. Korea as a mixture, with high prevalence of TB in the elderly and outbreaks in cer...
Source: Frontiers in Immunology - Category: Allergy & Immunology Source Type: research