Virulence in the guinea-pig and sensitivity to PAS and thioacetazone of tubercle bacilli from South Indian patients with pulmonary tuberculosis.

Joseph, S.; Mitchison, D.A.; Ramachandran, K.; Selkon, J.B.; Subbaiah, T.V.

Tubercle; 1964; 45; 354-359.

Isoniazid-sensitive strains of tubercle bacilli, obtained pretreatment from 280 South Indian patients were tested for their virulence in the guinea-pig and for their sensitivity to PAS; strains from 209 of those patients were also tested for their sensitivity to thioacetazone.

          Strains of low virulence more often had a high proportion of PAS-resistant mutants and were more often resistant to thioacetazone than those of high virulence.

          There is suggestive evidence that Indian strains can be divided into two groups, the smaller group, comprising about one-quarter of the strains, resembling strains from British patients and the larger group characterized by a lower virulence, a higher susceptibility to hydrogen peroxide, a higher proportion of PAS-resistant mutants and thioacetazone resistance.

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