Accurate identification of slowly growing nontuberculous mycobacteria (SG-NTM) of clinical significance remains problematic. This study evaluated a novel method of SG-NTM identification by amplification of the mycobacterial 16S-23S rRNA internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region followed by resolution of amplified fragments by sequencer-based capillary gel electrophoresis (SCGE). Fourteen America...

BCG-vaccinated schoolchildren, 8-9 yrs of age, were simultaneously tested on separate arms with tuberculin and a sensitin. Using the 6 mm cut-off they reacted in 49% to two tuberculin units purified protein derivative (PPD RT23), in 67% to 0.1 micrograms Mycobacterium avium sensitin RS10, and in 58% to 0.1 micrograms M. scrofulaceum sensitin RS95. The corresponding figures for non-BCG-vaccinate...

The immune reconstitution syndrome caused by nontuberculous mycobacterial (NTM) infection is reported in 9 of 153 HIV-infected children 2 to 26 weeks after initiation of antiretroviral therapy. The clinical syndrome included fever and dyspnea (2 children), fever and abdominal pain (3), subcutaneous nodules or suppurative lymphadenitis (4). The causative species were Mycobacterium avium (4), Myc...

The study of tissue-derived Mycobacterium leprae provides insights to the immunopathology of leprosy and helps identify broad molecular features necessary for mycobacterial parasitism. A major membrane protein (MMP-II) of in vivo-derived M. leprae previously recognized (Hunter, S.W., B. Rivoire, V. Mehra, B.R. Bloom, and P.J. Brennan. 1990. J. Biol. Chem. 265:14065) was purified from extracts o...

In a two-step mating experiment with recipient strains of Mycobacterium smegmatis, the Mycobacterium fortuitum cryptic plasmid pJAZ38 was isolated. Plasmid pJAZ38 was genetically labeled by cointegration formation mediated by the kanamycin-resistant mycobacterial transposon Tn611. The region responsible for replication of pJAZ38 was located and sequenced. This region showed homology with the My...

The membership list of genus mycobacterium is ever expanding and it has grown to 95 in year 2003. While leprosy and tuberculosis are specific diseases caused by mycobacteria, other members are usually saprophytes but can be opportunistic and at times deadly pathogens. These other mycobacteria are referred to as atypical mycobacteria, non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) or mycobacteria other than...

MICs of clarithromycin against 324 clinical isolates belonging to eight species of slowly growing nontuberculous mycobacteria were determined by using a broth microdilution system. Isolates were inoculated into twofold drug dilutions in Middlebrook 7H9 broth (pH corrected to 7.4) and then incubated at 30 degrees C for 7 days for Mycobacterium marinum and for 14 days for all other species. The M...

A Chesapeake Bay water isolate of Mycobacterium scrofulaceum containing a 115-megadalton plasmid (pVT1) grew in the presence of 100 microM HgCl2 and converted soluble 203Hg2+ to volatile mercury at a rate of 50 pmol/10(8) cells per min. Cell extracts contained a soluble mercuric reductase whose activity was not dependent on exogenously supplied thiol compounds. The enzyme displayed nearly ident...