European Society of Mycobacteriology - Instituto Nacional de Saúde ...

PP-8
Mycobacterium tuberculosis BEIJING GENOTYPE
AND ORIGINS OF THE BULGARIANS
Panaiotov, Stefan; Bachiyska, Elizabeta; Brankova, Nadia; Levterova, Victoria
National Center of Infectious and Parasitic Diseases, Sofia 1504, Bulgaria
Recent studies demonstrated that exist genotypes of M. tuberculosis locally distributed to specific geographic region.
Other genotypes are distributed globally or on vast geographic areas. These facts led to other recent fundamental studies
and conclusions that exists certain genetic predisposition of the ethnic groups to specific M. tuberculosis genotypes,
hence genetic predisposition to tuberculosis specific genotypes is suspected. In the past and nowadays the waves of human
migration coincide with expansion of tuberculosis genotypes. In our study we associated the global distribution of
MTB Beijing genotype, its’ distribution in Bulgaria, the geographic regions of historical origin of the Bulgarian tribes, and
the ethnic affiliation of the Bulgarians.
For our analysis we used data published in the fourth international spoligotyping database (SpolDB4), publications, personal
communications and official historical theories regarding origins of the Bulgarians.
From the literature and in SpolDB4 exists about 330 spoligotypes of Bulgarian M. tuberculosis clinical strains collected
from all over the country. Beijing spoligotype was not identified among them. We concluded that this MTB genotype is
not (or very rare) distributed in Bulgaria. In Romania Beijing genotype was not identified too (personal communication).
Other countries associated with the origins and migration of the Bulgarians where Beijing genotype is not identified is
Iran. Significant part of the Bulgarian spoligotypes are phylogenetically related to MANU family, widely distributed in India.
These facts correlate with the widely accepted theory that the origins of the Bulgarian tribes are of Indo-Iranian lineage.
In contrary, this fact does not support the theory for the Turkik lineage or more precisely the Turano-Hunnic origins of
the Bulgarian ethnos.
Beiging genotype is widely distributed in Central Asian countries, Kazahstan, Turkmenistan, Russia, Turkey, China etc.
Bulgaria has very active tourist, cultural, political, trade and immigration links with all these countries. Based on these
empiric facts we indirectly conclude that there is genetic predisposed resistance of the Bulgarian and Iranian ethnos to
MTB Beijing genotype.
European Society of Mycobacteriology | 30 th Annual Congress | July 2009 | Porto - Portugal
81