Phage-type patterns of Mycobacterium tuberculosis from Southeast Asian immigrants

Cultures of Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolated from 86 Southeast Asian immigrants were phage typed as type 1 (10.5%), type 2 (57.0%), type 5 (23.2%), and type 8 (9.3%). Strains belonging to types 3, 4, 6, and 7 were not found among the 86 strains tested. The lytic patterns of 6 auxiliary phages further divided the strains into 5 to 14 additional subgroups. The phage-type distribution in the Asian cultures was different from the type distribution in cultures from residents in the United States.