In tuberculosis endemic areas, patients with sputum positive for acid-fast bacilli (AFB) are usually diagnosed and treated for pulmonary tuberculosis. The diagnosis of nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) lung disease is often ascertained only after lung disease progression occurs, increasing the risk of severe morbidity and mortality. We conducted a matched case-control study among a prospective ...

BACKGROUND Non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) are important environmental pathogens capable of causing a spectrum of infection. The different species exhibit varied geographical prevalence worldwide. Identification of the infecting organism may be helpful in determining the clinical significance of the isolate. OBJECTIVE To describe the spectrum of NTM isolated from clinical specimens receive...

Non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) are a group of environmental pathogens, which cause a broad spectrum of disease. The incidence of NTM infection is increasing, especially in immunocompromized patients. The past three decades also saw a rapid increase in the incidence of NTM infection involving otherwise healthy subjects. We report a case of cutaneous NTM infection in a 79-year-old Chinese wom...

were white, and 18 (85.7%) were Asian/Pacific Islander. Mycobacterium tuberculosis and NTM were identified in samples from 3 (14.3%) and 18 (85.7%) of the 21 patients, respectively. Of the 18 patients with NTM-positive samples, 4 (22.2%) had definite NTM lung disease (all of these patients were Asian/Pacific Islander); 2 (11.1%) had probable NTM lung disease; and 12 (66.7%) had possible NTM lun...

Nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) are ubiquitous in the environment and exist as an important cause of pulmonary infections in humans. Pulmonary involvement is the most common disease manifestation of NTM and the incidence of NTM is growing in North America. Susceptibility to NTM infection is incompletely understood; therefore preventative tools are not well defined. Treatment of pulmonary nont...

Atypical mycobacteria, or more correctly nontuberculous mycobacterial (NTM) species, are a ubiquitous group of environmental organisms that have potential to cause pathological presentations, varying from skin and superficial infections to deeper infections with or without systemic dissemination. Many NTM species are well-recognised pathogens, whereas others are newly emerging and their pathoge...

Non-tuberculosis mycobacteria (NTM), as certain species of mycobacteria, can affect human in several ways. In the preceding years, the rate of NTM detection has risen in both immunocompromised and immunocompetent patients. On the other hand, several reports have debated the possibility of co-infection of both Mycobcateriu tuberculosis (MTB) and NTM in individuals that puts the role of NTM in di...

This 2-year cross-sectional evaluation of nontuberculous mycobacterial (NTM) infections involved all Israeli medical centers that treat cystic fibrosis patients. The study comprised 186 patients whose sputum was analyzed for NTM. The prevalence of NTM isolates was 22.6%, and 6.5% and 10.8% of the patients fulfilled the 1997 and 2007 American Thoracic Society criteria for NTM lung disease, respe...

PURPOSE OF REVIEW This review describes recent trends in the epidemiology of nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM), emerging pathogens, new insights into NTM pathogenesis, and advances in diagnosis and treatment. RECENT FINDINGS Emerging pathogens include Mycobacterium chimaera and drug-resistant subspecies of Mycobacterium abscessus. Important virulence mechanisms of pathogenic NTM include the a...

Species identification of nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) is challenging due to the increasing number of identified NTM species and the lack of standardized testing strategies. The objectives of this study were to investigate the distribution of NTM species recovered from respiratory specimens by multigene sequence-based typing and to evaluate the clinical significance of identified species. ...