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. 2006 Aug;44(8):2967-9.
doi: 10.1128/JCM.00754-06.

Impact of laboratory cross-contamination on molecular epidemiology studies of tuberculosis

Miguel Martínez  1 , Darío García de Viedma, María Alonso, Sandra Andrés, Emilio Bouza, Teresa Cabezas, Isabel Cabeza, Armando Reyes, Waldo Sánchez-Yebra, Manuel Rodríguez, M Isabel Sánchez, M Cruz Rogado, Rosa Fernández, Teresa Peñafiel, Juan Martínez, Pilar Barroso, M Angeles Lucerna, L Felipe Diez, Carmelo Gutiérrez
Affiliations

Impact of laboratory cross-contamination on molecular epidemiology studies of tuberculosis

Miguel Martínez et al. J Clin Microbiol. 2006 Aug.

Abstract

Laboratory cross-contamination by Mycobacterium tuberculosis is known to be responsible for the misdiagnosis of tuberculosis, but its impact on other contexts has not been analyzed. We present the findings of a molecular epidemiology analysis in which the recent transmission events identified by a genotyping reference center were overestimated as a result of unnoticed laboratory cross-contamination in the original diagnostic laboratories.

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Figures

FIG. 1.
FIG. 1.
Dendrogram with all the clustered cases found in the study before and after the identification of the false-positive cases. The eliminated clusters and cases after documentation of false-positive cross-contaminations are indicated. I, international (clusters that included only foreign cases); M, mixed (clusters that included both Spanish and foreign cases); S; Spanish born (clusters that included only autochthonous cases).
FIG. 2.
FIG. 2.
Distribution of clustered cases according to their true-positive (TP) or false-positive (FP) status. The cluster caused by a massive cross-contamination (cross c.) event is specified.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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