Background-The aim of this study was to determine IS6110 banding pattern of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) isolates for evaluation of tuberculosis (TB) transmission. These isolates were obtained from intermediate laboratories of six major provinces of Iran; East Azarbaijan, West Azarbaijan, Khorasan, Kerman, Kermanshah and Fars. Methods-Restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) was performed on 100 suitable isolates, which have been obtained from some laboratories thought Iran. Fingerprinting was done using the oligonucleotide 6110 a’ (5´-GTGAGGGCATCGAGGTGGC) and 6110 b´ (5´-GCGTAGGCGTCGGTGACAAA) primers. Results-We observed two types of banding patterns among the typed strains: sixty-two percent of MTB strains had a high copy number of IS6110, whereas 33% had a low copy number. In addition, five MTB strains (5%) without any IS6110 banding pattern were detected. The analysis of banding pattern in MTB isolates revealed heterogeneous DNA fingerprinting. The computer-assisted dendogram system demonstrated 8% to 51% similarity among typed strains. According to the available data, similarity between 90% and 100% is considered as homogeneous DNA fingerprinting. Conclusion-Since two banding patterns (low and high) have been detected, it could be suggested that two or more lineage for TB strains might exist in Iran, which requires further analysis. This study also suggests that in these cases, tuberculosis is characterized by the absence of obvious focuses of transmission.

Brucella transmission and epidemiology depend on infecting species and biovar. Therefore, exact identification of the Brucella is important to design correct control and treatment strategies. In this study, we examined presence of otherBrucellae in Isfahan. One hundred twenty Brucella isolates were collected and genomic DNA was extracted from them. omp2a fragment of all isolates were amplified using a pair of specific primers and the PCR products were lectrophoresed and stained with EtBr. These PCR products were then restricted using PstI restriction endonuclease. The PCR products of all isolates had the same size of 1100bp. The banding pattern of PCR-RFLP for all of the isolates were similar to banding pattern of the Brucella melitensis biotype 1 except for 5 samples that demonstrated banding pattern similar to B. abortus. Based on our results, it is clear that biotype 1 of the B. melitensis is not the only Brucella present in Isfahan and now B. abortus is also present in our area. These results are very important in planning for the control of the disease as well epidemiology and even treatment of the patients.

Hepatitis C is a major cause of liver related morbidity and mortality worldwide and represents a major public health problem. Depending on genomic organization, the virus is divided into six genotypes and a number of subtypes. Different genotypes are seen in different parts of the world. Genotype one is difficult to treat, while genotypes 2 and 3 are easy to treat. Therefore, identification of HCV genotype in patients is necessary to begin and follow up the treatment. In this study, viral genomic materials of 214 patients’ sera were detected by nested-RT PCR. Based on genomic differences among different genotypes, the PCR products were digested with proper enzymes and studied by RFLP. Except for one, sequencing of 14 samples, representative of all genotypes, confirmed the results of PCR-RFLP. The results of PCR-RFLP were as follows:1a (52.88%), 1b (14.01%), 3a (27.57%), 2a (2.1%), 4 (3.44%). This indicates that a high percentage of HCV infected patients in Iran are infected with 1a or 3a genotypes. These findings reveal that the pattern of HCV genotypes in Iran differs from those of other middle-eastern countries.