Identification of tuberculous and nontuberculous mycobacteria by biochemical methods is a long-term process that takes up to 8 weeks for completion and requires expertise to interpret the results. In order to detect and differentiate the major pathogenic mycobacterial species, we developed genus-specific primers that amplify the dnaJ gene from the broad spectrum of mycobacterial species and det...

More than 36000 individuals living in rural Malawi were skin tested with antigens derived from 12 different species of environmental mycobacteria. Most were simultaneously tested with RT23 tuberculin, and all were followed up for both tuberculosis and leprosy incidence. Skin test results indicated widespread sensitivity to the environmental antigens, in particular to Mycobacterium scrofulaceum,...

Infrequent restriction site amplification (IRS-PCR) is a method of amplifying DNA sequences, which flank an infrequent restriction site, and produces a strain-specific electrophoretic pattern. We studied the use of IRS-PCR to characterize Mycobacterium tuberculosis and non-tuberculous mycobactria (NTM). One-hundred and sixteen M. tuberculosis and nine NTM isolated at Hanyang University Hospital...

A new fluoroquinolone, DU-6859a, was studied for its in vitro and in vivo antimycobacterial activities. MIC determination by the agar dilution method with 7H11 medium revealed that DU-6859a had MICs at which 90% of M. kansasii (0.78 microgram/ml), M. marinum (1.56 micrograms/ml), M. scrofulaceum (1.56 micrograms/ml), M. fortuitum (0.39 microgram/ml), M. chelonae subsp. abscessus (6.25 microgram...

Mycobacterium tuberculosis grows within the phagocytic vacuoles of macrophages, where it encounters a moderately acidic and possibly nutrient-restricted environment. Other mycobacterial species encounter acidic conditions in soil and aquatic environments. We have evaluated the influence of pH and divalent cation levels on the growth of M. tuberculosis and seven other mycobacterial species. In a...

Nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) have been isolated from water, soil, air, food, protozoa, plants, animals, and humans. Although most NTM are saprophytes, approximately one-third of NTM have been associated with human diseases. In this study, we did a comparative proteomic analysis among five NTM strains isolated from several sources. There were different numbers of protein spots from M. gordo...

The spectrum of activity of levofloxacin was initially determined against 29 strains belonging to 16 species of atypical mycobacteria by measuring radiometric MICs. Levofloxacin MICs were 1 to 2 dilutions lower compared with those obtained for ofloxacin and 8 to 64 dilutions lower compared with those obtained for its D-isomer. Levofloxacin MICs were below its peak level in serum (5.5 micrograms...

Preliminary studies showed that roxithromycin possessed significant in vitro activity against a variety of atypical mycobacteria such as the Mycobacterium avium complex, M. scrofulaceum, M. szulgai, M. malmoense, M. xenopi, M. marinum, and M. kansasii and rare pathogens such as M. chelonae and M. fortuitum. In this investigation, radiometric MICs of roxithromycin, ethambutol, rifampin, amikacin...

Polymerase chain reaction and restriction enzyme analysis (PCR-REA) of the hsp65 gene was evaluated for use as a routine identification method for identifying mycobacteria. The accuracy, rapidity, and cost were assessed compared with the conventional biochemical method. Five hundred and forty-one mycobacterial clinical isolates obtained from the Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine a...