Non-tuberculous mycobacteria: patterns of isolation. A multi-country retrospective survey.

Objective: To collect data on non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) isolated from clinical laboratories in different countries to establish: 1) whether the isolation of NTM was increasing, 2) which species were increasing, and 3) whether there was any pattern of geographical distribution.

Design: In 1996, the Working Group of the Bacteriology and Immunology Section of the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease contacted 50 laboratories in different countries for the necessary information.

Results: The number of patients reported with NTM was 36099 from 14 countries.

Utility of PCR in diagnosing pulmonary tuberculosis.

At present, the rapid diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis rests with microscopy. However, this technique is insensitive and many cases of pulmonary tuberculosis cannot be initially confirmed. Nucleic acid amplification techniques are extremely sensitive, but when they are applied to tuberculosis diagnosis, they have given variable results.

DNA fingerprinting and phenotyping of Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates from human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-seropositive and HIV-seronegative patients in Tanzania.

With the purpose of determining whether the risk of infection with a particular clone of Mycobacterium tuberculosis is influenced by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) status of the host, we analyzed and compared 68 mycobacterial isolates obtained from HIV-seropositive patients with tuberculosis (TB) in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, with 66 mycobacterial isolates obtained from HIV-seronegative patients with TB in the same geographical region by using both DNA fingerprinting and classical phenotyping methods. One hundred one different IS6110 fingerprinting patterns were observed in the 134 isolates. The level of diversity of the DNA fingerprints observed in the HIV-seropositive group was comparable to the level of the diversity observed in the HIV-seronegative group.

Firefly luciferase assay of adenosine triphosphate as a tool of quantitation of the viability of BCG vaccines.

The purpose of the present study was to compare conventional colony forming unit (CFU) enumeration with a bioluminescent measurement in order to quantitate living bacteria in BCG vaccine. Forty batches of BCG vaccine quantitated with respect to weight (10 each of concentration 120 mg/vial, 30 mg/vial, 1.5 mg/vial and 0.

Serovars of Mycobacterium avium complex isolated from patients in Denmark.

Danish isolates of Mycobacterium avium complex were serotyped by the use of seroagglutination. The most prevalent serovars among patients with AIDS (n = 89) were 4 and 6, while among non-AIDS patients the most prevalent serovars were 1, 6, and 4, with no major differences between those in patients with pulmonary disease (n = 65) and those in patients with lymph node infection (n = 58). The results suggest a Scandinavian distribution of serovars with a predominance of serovar 6 and fail to demonstrate any selective protection against different serovars by Mycobacterium bovis BCG vaccination.