Nontuberculous mycobacterial (NTM) infections are an increasingly recognized cause of chronic lung disease in immunocompetent adults, and the M. avium complex, M. kansasii, and a rapidly growing mycobacteria such as M. abscessus, M. fortuitum, and M. chelonae account for most of the pathogens involved. Because the clinical features of NTM disease are not distinguishable from those of tuberculos...

Anti-tumor necrosis factor alpha therapy is known as a risk factor of non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) infection. However, there are few reports of NTM infection under treatment with thiopurine agents. We herein report a first case of pulmonary infection caused by Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC) in a patient with Crohn's disease under treatment with thiopurine. After starting antibiotics th...

A new fluorescence in situ hybridization assay based on peptide nucleic acid probes (MTB and NTM probes targeting tuberculous and nontuberculous species, respectively) for the identification of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex and differentiation between tuberculous and nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) was evaluated using Lowenstein-Jensen (LJ) solid cultures from 100 consecutive sputum samp...

RATIONALE Persons with cystic fibrosis (CF) are at high risk of nontuberculous mycobacterial (NTM) infection, with treatment requiring prolonged multidrug regimens that include macrolides. Although macrolides, specifically azithromycin, are used in the management of patients with CF with chronic Pseudomonas, macrolide-resistant NTM infections are of growing concern. OBJECTIVES To evaluate the...

BACKGROUND The incidence of non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) isolation from humans is increasing worldwide. In England, Wales and Northern Ireland (EW&NI) the reported rate of NTM more than doubled between 1996 and 2006. Although NTM infection has traditionally been associated with immunosuppressed individuals or those with severe underlying lung damage, pulmonary NTM infection and disease ma...

Non-tuberculous mycobacterial pulmonary disease (NTM-PD) is a chronic inflammatory lung caused by infection with non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM). International guidelines provide evidence-based recommendations on appropriate diagnosis and treatment strategies, but there need for sharing day-to-day best practice between centers to optimize patient care. This particularly valuable rare disease...

PURPOSE This is a retrospective analysis of the isolation rates of nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) from various clinical specimens and their antimicrobial susceptibility patterns. METHODS All NTM isolated between 1999 and 2004 at Christian Medical College, Vellore, South India, were identified with various biochemical tests. Antimicrobial susceptibility test for all NTM was performed by sta...

The majority of investigations of the epidemiology of nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) have focused on highly developed nations with a low prevalence of tuberculosis. In contrast, the Para state of north Brazil represents an area of high tuberculosis prevalence and increasing NTM incidence. Toward the goal of understanding the dynamics of infection by all Mycobacterium species, we report patie...

Subjects exposed to non-tuberculous mycobacterium (NTM) species do not always develop an active disease, which likely reflects underlying host susceptibility factors. Recent reports have shown that anti interferon gamma (IFN-γ) neutralizing autoantibodies (IFN-γ Ab) are associated with the development of disseminated NTM in patients without known evidence of immunodeficiency. The purpose of thi...

Nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) are ubiquitous organisms; their isolation from clinical specimens does not always indicate clinical disease. The incidence of NTM lung diseases has been increasing worldwide. Although the geographic diversity of NTM species is well known, Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC), M. abscessus complex (MABC), and M. kansasii are the most commonly encountered and import...