Tuberculosis, caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC) infections, is one of the most widespread infectious diseases worldwide. Nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) also cause chronic pulmonary infections, however, NTM infection is generally overlooked.This study analyzed the frequencies of MTBC and NTM clinical isolates from 181,132 specimens obtained from patients in Taiwan suspected ...

BACKGROUND Several nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) were previously isolated from diverse environments such as water, soil, sewage, food and animals. Some of these NTM are now known to be opportunistic pathogens of humans. OBJECTIVE The main purpose of the study was to identify NTM isolates stored at the National Microbiology Reference Laboratory (NMRL) and were previously isolated from huma...

BACKGROUND In China, the prevalence of nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) in isolates from mycobacterial culture-positive patients with pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) is largely unknown. METHODS We used conventional biochemical and 16S rRNA gene sequencing to identify species of mycobacteria in specimens from patients suspected of having TB. Drug-susceptibility testing was performed on NTM isolat...

Non-tuberculosis mycobacteria (NTM) have emerged as an important pathogen in lung infection. NTM infection is rarely accompanied by pleural involvement, and empyema necessitatis caused by NTM is very uncommon. We report a very rare case of Mycobacterium abscessus pulmonary disease with empyema accompanied by empyema necessitatis. The patient was successfully treated by percutaneous tube drainag...

Introduction Non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) are slow-growing organisms affecting both immunocompromised and immunocompetent patients. As compared to tuberculosis, they pose formidable challenge in successful management beginning with diagnosis extending through its treatment. Case Report Our case highlights unusual spinal presentation of NTM, intricacies in diagnosis, and successful manag...

The aims of this study were to evaluate the microbiological quality and the occurrence of nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) in a variety of salads and sprouts from supermarkets and street vendors in Mexico City. Aerobic-mesophilic bacteria (AMB) were present in 100% of RTE-salads samples; 59% of samples were outside guidelines range (>5.17 log10 CFU per g). Although fecal coliforms (FC) were pr...

UNLABELLED Nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) play an increasingly significant pathogenic role in HIV -positive patients, in patients with chronic lung disease, in other chronic conditions and in the elderly. AIMS Evaluate the importance of NTM isolation in respiratory samples in patients without HIV-infection. METHODS Retrospective evaluation of our hospital patients with no known AIDS, wit...

BACKGROUND Nontuberculous mycobacterial (NTM) infection in immunocompromized patients is currently a growing health concern, and we aimed to examine the relative risk of NTM infection in patients with Sjögren's syndrome (SS) compared with that in non-SS individuals. METHODS We used the 2003-2012 Taiwanese National Health Insurance Research Database to identify 6554 incident SS cases during 20...

Objective The incidence of pulmonary nontuberculous mycobacterial (NTM) infections has increased in recent decades. Nevertheless, NTM pleurisy is still a rare disease. The objective of the present study was to elucidate the clinical features and outcomes of NTM pleurisy. Methods A retrospective study was undertaken of consecutive patients whose pleural effusion culture yielded NTM, from 2002 to...

SETTING The value of microbiological criteria in diagnosing non-tuberculous mycobacteria pulmonary disease (NTM-PD) and monitoring its epidemiology is unknown. OBJECTIVES To correlate the rate of NTM-PD based on microbiological criteria (American Thoracic Society/Infectious Diseases Society of America [ATS/IDSA] or stricter microbiological criteria) compared with the full ATS/IDSA criteria, t...