China/epidemiology* ; Humans ; Mycobacterium Infections, Nontuberculous/microbiology* ; Nontuberculous Mycobacteria/classification* ; Transients and Migrants

BACKGROUND: It has been reported that nontuberculosis mycobacterium(NTM) isolates account for approximately 10% of patients with a positive Acid-Fast Bacilli(AFB) smear. Therefore, it is necessary to consider NTM pulmonary disease when such a positive test is encountered. The aim of this study was to evaluate the etiologies and clinical characteristics of patients with NTM pulmonary disease who had been treated at a national tuberculosis hospital. METHODS: The NTM isolates were recovered from the sputum or bronchial washing specimens submitted to a clinical laboratory of National Masan TB Hospital from August 2002 to July 2003. All samples were identified using a polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis method, which amplifies the rpoB gene. The patients were diagnosed with NTM disease according to the American Thoracic Society diagnostic criteria. RESULTS: One hundred NTM isolates were recovered from 57 patients. Of the 100 isolates, M. avium complex(MAC) was the most common species, which was found 55%(n=55) of patients, followed by M. abscessus(n=25), and M. fortuitum(n=9). 26(45.6%) patients had NTM disease. Twenty-six (45.6%) patients had NTM disease according to The American Thoracic Society classification. The main organisms involved in NTM disease were MAC(n=19, 73.1%) and M. abscessus(n=5, 19.2%). The pathogenic potential was 67.9% in M. intracellulare and 41.7% in M. abscessus. The predictive factors related to NTM disease were a positive sputum smear (OR 6.4, p=0.02) and the isolation of either MAC or M. abscessus(OR 6.9, p=0.007). Fifteen patients(57.7%) were cured. There were no significant factors associated with the treatment success. CONCLUSION: There was a relatively high proportion of NTM disease in NTM isolates and the common species were MAC and M. abscessus. The predictive factors for NTM disease were a positive sputum smear and the isolation of either MAC or M. abscessus.
Classification* ; Hospitals, Chronic Disease* ; Humans ; Lung Diseases* ; Mycobacterium avium Complex ; Nontuberculous Mycobacteria ; Sputum ; Tuberculosis*

Mycobacterium longobardum is a slow-growing, nontuberculous mycobacterium that was first characterized from the M. terrae complex in 2012. We report a case of M. longobardum induced chronic osteomyelitis. A 71-yr-old man presented with inflammation in the left elbow and he underwent a surgery under the suspicion of tuberculous osteomyelitis. The pathologic tissue culture grew M. longobardum which was identified by analysis of the 65-kDa heat shock protein and full-length 16S rRNA genes. The patient was cured with the medication of clarithromycin and ethambutol without further complications. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of a M. longobardum infection worldwide.
Aged ; Anti-Bacterial Agents/therapeutic use ; Bacterial Proteins/genetics ; Chaperonin 60/genetics ; Clarithromycin/therapeutic use ; Elbow/pathology ; Ethambutol/therapeutic use ; Humans ; Male ; Mycobacterium Infections, Nontuberculous/*microbiology ; Nontuberculous Mycobacteria/classification/genetics/*isolation & purification ; Osteomyelitis/diagnosis/drug therapy/*microbiology/pathology ; RNA, Ribosomal, 16S/genetics ; Treatment Outcome

No abstract available.
Anti-Bacterial Agents/pharmacology ; DNA, Bacterial/analysis ; Female ; Humans ; Hypertrophy/diagnosis ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Microbial Sensitivity Tests ; Middle Aged ; Mycobacterium/classification/drug effects/*isolation & purification ; Nontuberculous Mycobacteria/classification/drug effects/isolation & purification ; Phylogeny ; RNA, Ribosomal, 16S/chemistry/metabolism ; Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Republic of Korea ; Sequence Analysis, RNA ; Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid ; Tenosynovitis/*diagnosis/microbiology/pathology