Description of clusters containing 3 or more isolates in this study and their worldwide distribution in the SITVIT2 database (interrogation made on September 25th 2013).

*Worldwide distribution is reported for regions with more than 3% of a given SITs as compared to their total number in the SITVIT2 database. The definition of macro-geographical regions and sub-regions (http://unstats.un.org/unsd/methods/m49/m49regin.htm) is according to the United Nations; Regions: AFRI (Africa), AMER (Americas), ASIA (Asia), EURO (Europe), and OCE (Oceania), subdivided in: E (Eastern), M (Middle), C (Central), N (Northern), S (Southern), SE (South-Eastern), and W (Western). Furthermore, CARIB (Caribbean) belongs to Americas, while Oceania is subdivided in 4 sub-regions, AUST (Australasia), MEL (Melanesia), MIC (Micronesia), and POLY (Polynesia). Note that in our classification scheme, Russia has been attributed a new sub-region by itself (Northern Asia) instead of including it among rest of the Eastern Europe. It reflects its geographical localization as well as due to the similarity of specific TB genotypes circulating in Russia (a majority of Beijing genotypes) with those prevalent in Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Asia.**The 3 letter country codes are according to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_3166-1_alpha-3; countrywide distribution is only shown for SITs with ≥3% of a given SITs as compared to their total number in the SITVIT2 database.Description of clusters containing 3 or more isolates in this study and their worldwide distribution in the SITVIT2 database (interrogation made on September 25th 2013).当某一共享型间隔区寡核苷酸分型（Spoligotype International Type, SIT）在SITVIT2数据库中的占比超过其总计数的3%时，将报告其全球分布情况。宏观地理区域及子区域的定义依据联合国标准（详见http://unstats.un.org/unsd/methods/m49/m49regin.htm）；五大宏观区域分别为AFRI（非洲）、AMER（美洲）、ASIA（亚洲）、EURO（欧洲）与OCE（大洋洲），各区域均进一步划分为：E（东部）、M（中部）、C（中央）、N（北部）、S（南部）、SE（东南部）、W（西部）。此外，加勒比地区（CARIB）隶属于美洲；而大洋洲另有四个专属子区域：AUST（澳大拉西亚）、MEL（美拉尼西亚）、MIC（密克罗尼西亚）以及POLY（波利尼西亚）。需注意，在本次分类体系中，俄罗斯被单独划分为北亚这一新子区域，而非归入东欧范畴。这一划分既契合其地理区位特征，也源于俄罗斯境内流行的特定结核分枝杆菌（Mycobacterium tuberculosis, TB）基因型（绝大多数为北京基因型），与中亚、东亚及东南亚地区流行的基因型具有高度相似性。所用3位国家代码符合ISO 3166-1 alpha-3标准（详见http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_3166-1_alpha-3）；仅当某一SIT在SITVIT2数据库中的占比超过其总计数的3%时，才会展示其全国范围分布情况。本研究对包含3株及以上分离株的聚类群及其在SITVIT2数据库中的全球分布情况进行了描述（数据查询时间为2013年9月25日）。