Abstract Regardless of destination, immigrants arrive with health profiles typical of people in their previous surroundings. Thus, immigrants change the epidemiological profile of destination communities, and immigrant neighborhoods may represent islands of infectious disease. Genotyping has emerged as a useful surveillance tool to track the spread of disease at the molecular level. Yet the spatial distribution of infectious disease at the molecular level associated with migration and immigrant neighborhoods has received little attention. Using molecular genotyping to characterize M. tuberculosis isolated from tuberculosis cases, this article analyzes spatial variations of unique molecular M. tuberculosis strains by zip code in Tarrant County, Texas. The results suggest that immigrant neighborhoods have higher rates of unique isolates of tuberculosis (suggestive of remote transmission) compared to neighborhoods occupied by the native-born. Neighborhoods dominated by the native-born have higher rates of clustered isolates (suggestive of recent transmission). Therefore, in addition to being culturally distinct, immigrant neighborhoods may also be pathogenically distinct from surrounding neighborhoods.

中文翻译：

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德克萨斯州塔兰特县结核病基因型的外国出生状况和地理模式

摘要 无论目的地如何，移民到达时都带有他们以前周围人的典型健康状况。因此，移民改变了目的地社区的流行病学特征，移民社区可能代表传染病的岛屿。基因分型已成为一种有用的监测工具，可以在分子水平上跟踪疾病的传播。然而，与移民和移民社区相关的传染病在分子水平上的空间分布很少受到关注。本文使用分子基因分型来表征从结核病病例中分离出的结核分枝杆菌，分析了德克萨斯州塔兰特县邮政编码的独特分子结核分枝杆菌菌株的空间变异。结果表明，与本地出生的社区相比，移民社区具有更高的结核病独特分离株（暗示远程传播）的比率。由本地出生的人主导的社区具有较高的成群分离株率（暗示最近的传播）。因此，除了在文化上不同之外，移民社区在病原上也可能与周围社区不同。