<p>This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.</p> <p>In response to a large local school-based outbreak of tuberculosis, we have been evaluating the utility of microarray bacterial genomic analysis in outbreak management. After initial comparison of the isolate from the index case with <italic>Mycobacterium tuberculosis</italic>  H37Rv, it was possible to design robust PCRs directed towards strain-specific
deletions. Rapid PCR analysis of isolates proved valuable in determining whether or
not other isolates were compatible with the outbreak strain and further microarray
studies revealed genetic markers that could be used to discriminate between locally
circulating strains.We suggest that this approach forms the basis for developing rapid
local genotyping schemes applicable to <italic>M. tuberculosis</italic> and that application to other
pathogens warrants consideration.</p>
[]
Comp Funct Genomics. 2002 Aug; 3(4):362-365