Publications by authors named "L Heifets"

Nontuberculous mycobacterial infections caused by Mycobacterium abscessus are responsible for a range of disease manifestations from pulmonary to skin infections and are notoriously difficult to treat, due to innate resistance to many antibiotics. Previous population studies of clinical M. abscessus isolates utilized multilocus sequence typing or pulsed-field gel electrophoresis, but high-resolution examinations of genetic diversity at the whole-genome level have not been well characterized, particularly among clinical isolates derived in the United States.

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Disease caused by nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) is increasing in frequency. The outcome of treatment for NTM lung disease is poor, particularly lung disease caused by Mycobacterium simiae and M. abscessus.

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Rationale: Currently recommended multidrug treatment regimens for Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC) lung disease yield limited cure rates. This results, in part, from incomplete understanding of the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of the drugs.

Objectives: To study pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, and drug interactions of multidrug treatment regimens in a large cohort of patients with MAC lung disease.

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The Mycobacterium simiae complex bacteria can cause opportunistic infections in humans. In the case of definite disease, there are no evidence-based treatment regimens and outcomes are very disappointing. To increase the evidence base underpinning treatment regimens for M.

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Phylogenetic analyses on the basis of multiple house-keeping genes and whole genome sequences have offered new insights in the phylogeny of the genus Mycobacterium. This genus yields obligate pathogens, the M. tuberculosis complex and M.

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