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Human host range of Mycobacterium tuberculosis

A new study demonstrates that the most widespread lineage of the causative agent of tuberculosis consists of both globally distributed and geographically restricted sublineages. The geographically restricted sublineages are likely able to infect only specific human populations, whereas the globally distributed ones likely have a broader human host range.

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Figure 1: Examples of the distributions of a globally distributed MTBC lineage 4 sublineage (L4.3/LAM) and a geographically restricted sublineage (L4.6.1/Uganda).

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Correspondence to Ruth Hershberg.

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Hershberg, R. Human host range of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Nat Genet 48, 1453–1454 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/ng.3724

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