MAIS-TB: An Integrated Web Tool for Molecular Epidemiology Analysis

摘要

There is growing evidence that the genetic diversity of Mycobacterium tuberculosis may have important clinical consequences. In that sense combining genetic, clinical and demographic data will allow a comprehensive view of the epidemiology of bacterial pathogens and their evolution, helping to explain how virulence and other phenotypic traits evolve in bacterial species over time. [1-2] Hence to understand TB, an integrative approach is needed. Therefore we created MAIS-TB (Molecular Analysis Information System -TB), an informatics system, which integrates molecular analysis of MTB isolates, with clinical and demographic information. This system provides a new tool to access and identify associations between tuberculosis strain types and clinical and epidemiological characteristics of the disease.