Molecular epidemiology of Mycobacterium tuberculosis to describe the transmission dynamics among Inuit residing in Iqaluit Nunavut using whole genome sequencing.

BACKGROUND: In the last decade, tuberculosis incidence among Inuit in the Canadian Arctic has been rising. Our aim was to better understand the transmission dynamics of TB in this remote region of Canada using whole genome sequencing. METHODS: Isolates from patients who had culture positive pulmonary TB disease in Iqaluit, Nunavut between 2009 -2015 underwent whole genome sequencing (WGS). The number of transmission events between cases within clusters was calculated using a threshold of