Advances on Molecular Epidemiology and Zoonotic Importance of Mycobacterium TuberculosisComplex (MTBC) in Ethiopia

Tuberculosis (TB) is recognized as one of the most important threats to human and animal health causing mortality, morbidity and economic losses. It is the leading cause of death from an infectious disease in Ethiopia, killing more than 30 thousand people every year. Now a days‟ genotyping has become an indispensable tool in medical microbiology and epidemiology. Molecular technique has become a powerful tool and is widely used for typing of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC) species, understanding the TB epidemiology especially transmission dynamics and assessing the efficiency of the national control program. Therefore, this paper reviews the advances on the understanding of molecular epidemiology and zoonotic importance of MTBC in Ethiopia. Specifically, this review provide an overview of currently available and most frequently used molecular diagnostic methods for Mycobacterium species, the current understanding of the epidemiology of TB in human and livestock, assess the species, strain and genetic diversity of the MTBC causing tuberculosis in animal and human and show the transmission pattern of MTBC in human and animals in Ethiopia. The high genetic diversity and high rate of clustering of MTBC from animals to humans and vice versa have been signified the presence of recent TB transmission, circulation of specific strains in the communities and defect of the TB control program in different areas of the country. This has an important implication in the control program of TB in human. Therefore, attention should be given towards the control of tuberculosis in livestock, public health education on zoonotic importance of the disease and the national TB control needs to consider the one health approach and further molecular epidemiological studies.