TY - JOUR AU - Aikembayev, Alim M. AU - Lukhnova, Larissa AU - Temiraliyeva, Gulnara AU - Meka-Mechenko, Tatyana AU - Pazylov, Yerlan AU - Zakaryan, Sarkis AU - Denissov, Georgiy AU - Easterday, W. Ryan AU - Van Ert, Matthew N. AU - Keim, Paul AU - Francesconi, Stephen C. AU - Blackburn, Jason K. AU - Hugh-Jones, Martin AU - Hadfield, Ted T1 - Historical Distribution and Molecular Diversity of Bacillus anthracis, Kazakhstan T2 - Emerging Infectious Disease journal PY - 2010 VL - 16 IS - 5 SP - 789 SN - 1080-6059 AB - To map the distribution of anthrax outbreaks and strain subtypes in Kazakhstan during 1937–2005, we combined geographic information system technology and genetic analysis by using archived cultures and data. Biochemical and genetic tests confirmed the identity of 93 archived cultures in the Kazakhstan National Culture Collection as Bacillus anthracis. Multilocus variable number tandem repeat analysis genotyping identified 12 genotypes. Cluster analysis comparing these genotypes with previously published genotypes indicated that most (n = 78) isolates belonged to the previously described A1.a genetic cluster, 6 isolates belonged to the A3.b cluster, and 2 belonged to the A4 cluster. Two genotypes in the collection appeared to represent novel genetic sublineages; 1 of these isolates was from Krygystan. Our data provide a description of the historical, geographic, and genetic diversity of B. anthracis in this Central Asian region. KW - Bacillus anthracis KW - anthrax KW - genotyping KW - MLVA KW - SNP KW - GIS KW - spatial analysis KW - bacteria KW - research KW - Kazakhstan DO - 10.3201/eid1605.091427 UR - https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/16/5/09-1427_article ER - End of Reference