Martin, Eugene Ray
(2005)
The cloning and chcracterization of mycobacterium tuberculosis katG gene.
Masters thesis, Universiti Sains Malaysia.
Abstract
Tuberculosis is a disease that bas long plagued man for many centuries. The
earliest known name of this disease is Phthisis ("to waste") by the Greeks. It has also
been known as consumption in the 1800s, wasting disease, and the white plague.
This disease is known as the leading cause of death from a single infectious agent,
with ·a prevalence of greater than 1.6 billion people (Whitney and Wainberg, 2002).
Until the mid-1800s, people thought that tuberculosis, or TB, was bereditaJy~ ln
1865 a .french surgeon, Jean-Antoine Villemin, proved that TB was contagiou~ and
. in.lS82 .a German-scientist named Robert. Koch .discov.ered.thebacterimn .. that etuses
TB, Mycobacterium tuherculo!;;is.
TB is caused by an organism called Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) also
sometimes called as the tubercle baciJii. ·It is a member of the genus mycobacteriwn
which consists of members of the MiB. complex and more than 80 $J1eeies of nontubercular
mycobacteria inciuding pathogenic, opportunistic and non pathogenic
species (Soini et al., 2001 ). Mycobacteria can cause a variety of diseases. Sotne
mycobacteria are called tuberculous mycobacteria because they cause TB or
diseases similar to TB. These mycobacteria are MTB, M bovis, and M. africanunl.
Other mycobacteria are called non-tuberculous mycobacteria because they do not
cause TB. One common type of nontuberculous mycobacteria is M avium complex.
Non-tuberculous mycobacteria are not usually spread from person to person.
Tuberculosis (TB) is a commooicable chronic granulomatous disease caused
by MrB. It usually involves the lungs but may effect any other organ or tissue in thebody (Kumar, et a/.,2003). Tuberculosis is normally spread through airborne
traitsmission of droplet nuclei containing the MTB bacili A majority of cases
involves the lungs and is known as pulmonary tuberculosis wbere as extra
pulmonary tuberculosis is due to the infection of other parts of the human body.
About 80-90% of tuberculosis involves pulmonary tuberculosis and 10-20%
involves extra pulmonmy tuberculosis.
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