Thirty acquired immunodeficiency syndrome patients with mycobacterial bacteremia documented by Du Pont Isolator (Du Pont Co., Wilmington, Del.) blood cultures underwent microscopic examination of buffy coat blood smears. Of 30 patients, 14 were culture positive for Mycobacterium avium-Mycobacterium intracellulare complex and 1 was positive for M. tuberculosis. Of 15 culture-positive patients, 1...

The aim of this study was to evaluate a wide panel of antigens of Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (MAP) to select candidates for the diagnosis of paratuberculosis (PTB). A total of 54 recombinant proteins were spotted onto nitrocellulose membranes and exposed to sera from animals with PTB (n = 25), healthy animals (n = 10), and animals experimentally infected with M. bovis (n = 8). ...

Evidence currently suggests that as a species Mycobacterium tuberculosis exhibits very little genomic sequence diversity. Despite limited genetic variability, members of the M. tuberculosis complex (MTBC) have been shown to exhibit vast discrepancies in phenotypic presentation in terms of virulence, elicited immune response and transmissibility. Here, we used qualitative and quantitative mass s...

In 91 patients with bronchiectasis seen over 6 years, a positive mycobacterial culture was obtained in 12 cases (13%). The organisms isolated were Mycobacterium tuberculosis in nine cases, Mycobacterium avium in two cases and Mycobacterium tuberculosis and chelonei were obtained on separate occasions in one case. Computed tomography and/or bronchography showed that the bronchiectatic changes co...

A water-soluble tuberculin-active peptidoglycan (TAPG) with a molecular weight of ca. 28,000 to 30,000 was isolated from the culture filtrate of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. TAPG was approximately four to five times more potent than tuberculin purified protein derivative S in guinea pigs sensitized with M. tuberculosis or M. bovis (freeze-dried BCG). It showed little or no cross-reactivity at a ...

Healthy volunteers were randomized to receive percutaneous or intradermal bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccination. Delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) to tuberculin, as well as proliferative and interferon-gamma responses in peripheral blood mononuclear cells stimulated by whole cell lysates and culture filtrates of Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Mycobacterium avium-intracellulare, were compa...

B efore the advent of HIV, which led to an increased awareness of Mycobacterium avium complex disease, followed by the first prospective comparison studies on treatment regimens [1, 2], the topic of nontuberculous mycobacterial disease was a true example of Aristotelian science. Previously, only a few experts worldwide had compiled empirical data and disseminated knowledge on the subject, which...

The complete nucleotide sequence of alpha antigen secreted from Mycobacterium avium (A-alpha) was determined. The gene encodes 330 amino acids, including 40 amino acids for the signal peptide, followed by 290 amino acids for the mature protein with a molecular mass of 30,811 Da. This is the first sequence of A-alpha. Comparisons between A-alpha and alpha antigens of Mycobacterium leprae, Mycoba...

The aim of this study was to use the microtitre alamarBlue assay to investigate and compare the antimycobacterial potential of the lantibiotics nisin and lacticin 3147 against a representative cohort of clinically significant mycobacteria, i.e. Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Ra, Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (MAP) ATCC 19698 and Mycobacterium kansasii CIT11/06. Lacticin 3147 displa...

Linezolid, an oxazolidinone that acts by inhibiting protein synthesis, was evaluated in strains of tuberculosis and non-tubercular mycobacteria resistant to one or more drugs isolated in northern Sardinia. The in vitro activity of Linezolid (Pfizer) was assessed on different isolates of Mycobacterium spp. from clinical samples by the Proportional Method. Linezolid demonstrated an excellent acti...