Estudio epidemiológico-molecular de un brote de tuberculosis en el hospital psiquiátrico de La Habana

the increase of tuberculosis in cuba in the last years has been partially related to the ocurrence of institutional outbreaks, confirmed by the analysis of the polymorphism of restriction fragments. in the present paper, the increase of tuberculosis cases diagnosed in the period 1995-1998 among the patients of the psychiatric hospital of havana city was studied in order to know their possible epidemic character. it was observed that most of the patients were from wards located in a well defined area of the institution. 11 of the 14 strains analyzed had an identical restriction pattern. the molecular and convencito findings allowed to confirm the nature of the outbreak and to define the index case as well as the possible way of transmission. it was reaffirmed the value of the molecular techniques as a valuable instrument in the epidemiology of tuberculosis and their contribution to the local epidemiological control of this disease.