Characterization of W-Beijing isolates of Mycobacterium tuberculosis from the Western Cape

The purpose of this simple study was to characterize a panel of clinical isolates of Mycobacterium tuberculosis obtained from the Western Cape region of South Africa where new clinical vaccine trials are beginning, in the low dose aerosol guinea pig infection model. Most of the strains tested grew well in the lungs and other organs of these animals, and in most cases gave rise to moderate to very severe lung damage. We further observed that the current BCG vaccine was highly protective against two randomly selected strains, giving rise to significantly prolonged survival.