Infections caused by the Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC) are on the rise in both human and veterinary medicine. A means of effectively discriminating among closely related yet pathogenetically diverse members of the MAC would enable better diagnosis and treatment as well as further our understanding of the epidemiology of these pathogens. In this study, a five-target multiplex PCR designed to...

Pathogens that are transmitted between the environment, wildlife, livestock and humans represent major challenges for the protection of human and domestic animal health, the economic sustainability of agriculture, and the conservation of wildlife. Among such pathogens, the genus Mycobacterium is well represented by M. bovis, the etiological agent of bovine tuberculosis, M. avium ssp. paratuberc...

The purpose of this study was to assess the distribution of Mycobacterium avium serovars isolated from AIDS patients in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. Ninety single site or multiple site isolates from 75 patients were examined. The most frequent serovars found were 8 (39.2%), 4 (21.4%) and 1 (10.7%). The frequency of mixed infections with serovar 8 or 4 was 37.8%. Among the 90 strains examined, ...

Collectins, including surfactant proteins A (SP-A) and D (SP-D) and mannose binding lectin (MBL), are the important constituents of the innate immune system. Mycobacterium avium, a facultative intracellular pathogen, has developed numerous mechanisms for entering mononuclear phagocytes. In this study, we investigated the interactions of collectins with M. avium and the effects of these lectins ...

Cheng et al. [1] have reviewed the Eng-lish-language literature on immunores-titution (or immune reconstitution) disease (IRD), which describes a total of 107 patients, some of whom were HIV-negative and some HIV-positive. There were 2 reports that described 10 cases of IRD due to atypical mycobacterial infection ; all but 1 of these cases were infections with Mycobacterium avium complex. Not i...

A total of 227 clinical Mycobacterium avium complex isolates from Thailand were differentiated into species and types by using PCR-restriction enzyme analysis of hsp65. The distribution of types showed the predominance of M. avium I (77%) in blood specimens, whereas M. intracellulare I was more commonly found in pulmonary specimens (44.2%). In addition, infections with M. avium were more likely...

Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex, Mycobacterium avium, and many other nontuberculous mycobacteria are worldwide distributed microorganisms of major medical and veterinary importance. Considering the growing epidemiologic significance of wildlife-livestock-human interrelation, developing rapid detection tools of high specificity and sensitivity is vital to assess their presence and accelerate ...

We previously isolated and sequenced two genomic segments of Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis, namely, f57, a species-specific sequence, and the p34 gene, coding for a 34-kDa antigenic protein. Comparison of sequences upstream of the p34 open reading frame (us-p34) from M. avium subsp. paratuberculosis and M. tuberculosis showed a 79-base deletion in M. tuberculosis. Sequence analysi...

The characterization of protective antigens is essential for the development of an effective, subunit-based vaccine against paratuberculosis. Surface-exposed and secreted antigens, present abundantly in mycobacterial culture filtrate (CF), are among the well-known protective antigens of Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Mycobacterium bovis. Culture filtrate, prepared from Mycobacterium avium subsp...

Reference strains of the Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC) belonging to serovars 1 to 28 were examined with DNA probes (Gen Probe Rapid Diagnostic System for the MAC; Gen Probe Inc., San Diego, Calif.) specific for either M. avium or Mycobacterium intracellulare. This study revealed that the earlier designations of the MAC serovars, in which serovars 1 to 3 and 4 to 28 were regarded as M. avium...