An episode of serial mortality occurred in a population wild-caught, aquarium-reared sharphead flyingfish Hirundichthys oxycephalus. ?Most diseased fish had ulcerative hemorrhagic lesions on the skin, especially head, and displayed multiple, fine, whitish nodules scattered internal organs, including kidney, spleen liver. ?Histopathological examination revealed to be granulomatous consisting epi...

Mycobacterium tuberculosis remains one of the most problematic infectious agents, owing to its highly developed mechanisms to evade host immune responses combined with the increasing emergence of antibiotic resistance. Host-directed therapies aiming to optimize immune responses to improve bacterial eradication or to limit excessive inflammation are a new strategy for the treatment of tuberculos...

Mycobacterium ulcerans, the etiologic agent of Buruli ulcer, has been detected on aquatic plants in endemic tropical regions. Here, we tested the effect of several tropical plant extracts on the growth of M. ulcerans and the closely related Mycobacterium marinum. M. ulcerans and M. marinum were inoculated on Middlebrook 7H11 medium with and without extracts from tropical aquatic plants, includi...

There have been several reports of tuberculosis (TB) and, less frequently, of nontuberculous mycobacterial (NTM) infections in association with tumor necrosis factor α inhibitor (anti-TNFα) therapy. Mycobacterium marinum is a NTM with a distinct epidemiology and is infrequently responsible for disease in humans. Most commonly, it causes localized skin infections, but in 20% to 40% of cases, it ...

In an attempt to characterize an unusual mycobacterial isolate from a 44-year-old patient living in France, we applied phenotypic characterizations and various previously described molecular methods for the taxonomic classification of mycobacteria. The results of the investigations were compared to those obtained in a previous study with a set of temporally and geographically diverse Mycobacter...

An emerging epizootic of mycobacteriosis currently threatens striped bass Morone saxatilis populations in Chesapeake Bay, USA. Several species of mycobacteria, including Mycobacterium marinum, species resembling M. avium, M. gordonae, M. peregrinum, M. scrofulaceum and M. terrae, and the new species M. shottsii have been isolated from diseased and healthy bass. In this study, we describe the ul...

The diagnosis of cutaneous Mycobacterium marinum infection is often delayed for months after presentation, perhaps because important clinical clues in the patient's history are frequently overlooked. Knowledge of the incubation period allows the clinician to target questions about the patient's history. Prompted by a case with a prolonged incubation period, we sought to determine more precisely...

The apparent genetic homogeneity of Mycobacterium ulcerans contributes to the poorly understood epidemiology of M. ulcerans infection. Here, we report the identification of variable number tandem repeat (VNTR) sequences as novel polymorphic elements in the genome of this species. A total of 19 potential VNTR loci identified in the closely related M. marinum genome sequence were screened in a co...

The Mycobacterium tuberculosis exported repetitive protein (Erp) is a virulence determinant required for growth in cultured macrophages and in vivo. To better understand the role of Erp in Mycobacterium pathogenesis, we generated a mutation in the erp homologue of Mycobacterium marinum, a close genetic relative of M. tuberculosis. erp-deficient M. marinum was growth attenuated in cultured macro...